The Girl Of Steel
by kidkutt17
Summary: This is a story involving an alternate version of Kara Zor-El/Supergirl. It fits into the DC animated shared universe of films like Batman bat blood , justice league: Throne of Atlantis and most recently, Justice league vs teen titans so, I kinda changed up Supergirl's background, to create a different version of her for this story.
1. Chapter 1- Beginnings

**So this is my first story here. It's involving an alternate version of Kara Zor-El/Supergirl. It fits into the DC animated shared universe of films like Batman bad blood , justice league: Throne of Atlantis and most recently, Justice league vs teen , I kinda changed up Supergirl's background, to create a different version of her for this story. So, I'll do my best and let me know what you guys think!**

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter One – Beginnings**

It was pouring bullets of water onto the streets as the gods above seemed to be unleashing their fury on humans by sending vast armies of rain clouds to attack them. The cold was bitter and sent shivers down the spines of anyone brave enough to venture out at such a time. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be anyone out in the torrential rain. That was, until a lone female figure turned round the corner of the block, walking silently through the stormy conditions around her.

She seemed to be the only life form visible for thousands of miles , a lone moving organism in the vast expanse of the deserted streets. But then again, she wasn't like anyone else. She was a blonde haired woman , most likely in her early thirties, walking effortlessly against the strong wind currents blowing against her that would have blown any other human off their feet. But the lone woman walking down the street felt none of the wind's strength as her own outmatched the wind's strength by a ton. Maybe even more.

She had a brown leather hoodie drawn over her head, concealing her face in darkness as she wiped her hand on her blue jeans and pulled her coat tighter over her front, using it to block the heavy down pour of rain from the tiny bundle she held in a basket in her left hand.

The woman was frantically breathing hard as she walked as fast as she could, so that her baby would not feel the stress of moving at a rate faster than normal. Her blue eyes darted left and right frantically, making sure that they were not being followed.

Her husband had opted to stay behind so that she and they daughter could escape. Of course, she could blow them all away with a single gust of air from her mouth, but both she and Richard had figured that it would not help her case if she had done that. So at least for now, she had behave like a normal woman would. But she was far from the seventh avenue, she squinted her eyes to read the sign boards and address boards the labeled the various buildings in the street.

She didn't have to move around looking for the place though, as she could just zoom her vision from where she was standing and it only took her a total of about five seconds to locate the sign that read ' _Mother Zena's home for orphaned children_ '. Without further hesitation, the woman walked at a fast pace, almost flying off the flooded tar reaching the shelter of the building's front entrance, the woman slipped her hood off, revealing her azure blue eyes that looked longingly and lovingly at her daughter fast asleep in her basket.

She knew that there was a one percent chance that Kara would turn out like herself, but there was no other way. Maybe when she came of age, the world would be more appreciative of beings with such… special abilities.

As she looked lovingly at her daughter, she realized that this would probably be the last time she would ever see Kara again and her eyes welled up in tears and she began to sniff and wipe the tears away. She reminded herself that she was doing this so that Kara could have a normal and safe future, away from the prying and bloodthirsty eyes of the secret ops organizations and S.T.A.R laboratories that were chasing her. No one would hunt Kara down if she let her go. She would be safe here.

The woman bent down and planted a very prolonged kiss on her daughter's forehead as her one year old daughter rolled around in her sleep, probably having a peaceful dream. Slowly, the mother stood up and stared blankly at the wooden doors of the orphanage, the letter still in her shivering hand. Richard trusted this woman.. this mother Zena, since she was a friend of his mother's. If he trusted her, that was enough.

There was slight hesitation in her mind as she tucked the letter into the tiny hands of a sleeping Kara, for the letter explained who the baby was and why Richard and Lana chose to leave their baby at the door step. Of course, the letter did leave out the part that Lana's real name was Alura Zor-El, from the house of El on Krypton. Her being an alien was what had caused this mess in the first place, but it was something she could not change.

She stroked her daughter's small golden tuft of hair once more, her mind's eye remembering how her older brother Jor and his wife Lara had looked at their son, her nephew, Kal when they knew that they would never see him again , back on the day that Krypton's core exploded.

Back then, Alura, being barely a twenty year old,immature beyond belief , and had no idea how her brother and his wife had felt. But now, being a thirty year old mother of a little angel, she knew the feeling of powerlessness . That feeling that you can do more but couldn't at the same time. She was leaving her daughter forever, for her safety, just like her brother Jor did all those years ago. He had sent his younger sister after his son in order to take care of him when he arrived on earth.

Of course, Kal, her nephew , sadly, never made it out like Alura did , since his pod got caught in the phantom zone after being obstructed by a meteor belt . That was over fifteen years ago and Alura had lost any hope of seeing her nephew ever again and truly believed that she was the last kryptonian alive.

She gave her daughter one last longing kiss before knocking the seven foot tall doors several time until she heard the faint call of a woman from within . Then the light switched on from within the building and Alura stepped back out into the rain, giving her daughter one last longing look before she looked up skyward , the pouring torrents having no effect on her eyes and shot herself up, and she broke the sound barrier and she sped out through the skies towards the deep Antarctic lands, where she would visit her mother ship once more before she would fly out into the vast expanse of space, she knew not where.

Back on earth, in central city, the front doors of the orphanage swung open and a fifty three year old lady stepped out. She blinked and looked left and right, confused. She was sure she had heard someone knock .

"Hello? Anybody there?", she called out .

No reply. Cursing under her breath, she was about to step back in when the sound of a baby next to her feet startled her and she almost fell over in shock. As she regained her composure, breathing heavily, her eyes found the small figure of the tiny baby with golden tufts of hair on the ground, wrapped in checkered blankets inside what appeared to be wicker basket. She smiled and reached down to pick the wailing baby the baby in her hand, she caught sight of what appeared to be a letter in the basket with the baby. Curiously, she picked up the basket and looked around, giving the nearby area one last look before she began playing with the baby to calm it down and walked back inside, swinging the door shut behind her.

 **Sixteen years later.**

The warm July sun bathed the streets and walkways in it's basking glow as the people of central city went about on their daily routines. The middle of the week, specifically speaking, Wednesday, always managed to be a bummer for most people, what with their bosses overloading them with work and the insufferable traffic that plagued the streets. It was a wonder that people still loved the place. Especially in the suburbs.

The bustling noise of the main city seemed so far away and the quality of living wasn't as high as central city uptown areas either. Most people who were born and brought up in that part of the city chose to leave the place as soon as possible. Well, most people except the orphans who resided in St Marie's home for orphaned children. They had nowhere to go. Not since their parents either dumped them there, or decided that the orphanage could provide better than they ever could. But in most cases, it was the former. And Kara believed that this was the case with her as well.

Kara had her dirty blonde hair let down to her waistline and had thrown her purple hoodie over her head, masking her face away from the burning sunlight. She wore a pale white under shirt ,underneath her purple hoodie that cut high, exposing her abdomen , had it not been for the fact that she had zipped up her hoodie halfway. She wore blackish-grey leggings that hugged around her legs and her grey sneakers blended in with the grey of the cemented pavements that she was walking on.

Her azure blues flicked left and right, taking in the sight of everyday life around her as she walked with the rest of the group as the orphans had just finished their tour to the museum and were returning to their orphanage. Standing at a height of about five foot six, the sixteen year old girl walked at a pace slower than the rest of group , lagging behind slightly, wanting to take some solace from the chattering teenagers who called themselves her friends, though all they had ever done was use her as a wing woman to get the hot guy they wanted at societal charity parties thrown by Bruce Wayne, or use her to get to Mother Zena, the benefactor of the orphanage , to get something that they wanted, since Kara happened to be Mother Zena's favorite child, for some reason.

She was more of a tomboy than most girls she knew were. She loved playing video games and reading sports magazines, though she also had crushes on the football players, even though nobody knew this aspect about her, thankfully. She lifted up the soda can she held in her free hand and took a sip as one of the more bigger girls shoved past her , resulting in Kara shooting them a filthy glare.

Elsewhere, a speeding S.T.A.R Laboratories cargo truck was whirring around the curves as the cynical red triads were speeding away from the central city CSI headquarters, with the main carrier carrying three vials of synthesizedKryptonite, which had been kept under lockdown in the case for dire circumstances.

The head man of the group, a maniac code named 'mad max' was bellowing laughter as she furiously spun the steering wheel clockwise, sending the truck almost crashing into a nearby bust was a very bulky looking man with a a gleaming bald head and thick aubrun sideburns. He flashed his golden grill as he sneered at no one in particular, simply enjoying the fact that he was wreaking havoc in town.

As the truck began to gain momentum, there was a blur that whizzed past ahead of it. It was a blur of crimson red and gold and the moment it sped past shocked bystander in the way, they disappeared with the blur before reappearing on the pavement on the side of the road, safe and sound as papers on the nearby newspaper stall flew into the air as something incredibly fast for the eye to see zoomed past them.

Barry Allen had been having normal day so far, the usual with him getting tacos for his co-workers , until the news of the robbery flashed up on the television screen in the office. He would have liked to just laze back and relax, but being the superhero that he was, Flash couldn't afford to do that. He wanted to help people.

That was the reason he joined the CSI in the first place, so that he could help people even when he didn't have his crimson red superhero costume donned.

"Excuse me lady, you really shouldn't be eating ice cream standing in the middle of the road. You might not be able to zip outta the way in time. ", Barry chided (whilst chuckling mentally at his speed relate pun) to an elderly lady as she scoffed at him .

He placed her on the sidewalk and continued on , getting civilians out of the way as he tried to work out a solution to stop these criminals . Funny fact about himself, his brain waves didn't necessarily move as fast as his body unless he consciously attempted to.

Kara , along with the others, waited for the traffic lights to hit red, she thought she overheard two male voices whispering hurriedly . Looking around, she was a bit confused. The males in their group had all split for some time, heading out to the ball park to play some game and the only people surround her were females, chatting on and on about what their dream foster home would be like.

Kara snorted. She had long given up hopes of being taken in by any family, considering the fact that she was too old to be properly adopted anyway. Most parents tend to go for the newborns, so that the poor children actually believe that they are their blood parents, only to have their heart ripped out a few years down the road that they never were a real family anyway. If she was being honest, she was slightly happy at the fact that she wouldn't have to go through that ordeal, since no one would probably adopt orphans at such an old age either ways.

Just then, again, she was shaken out of her thoughts when she began to hear the distinct sound of a school bell ringing and yet, there was no school in sight. This time, she couldn't shrug it off so quickly as the noise got louder and then began to heart the noises of heartbeats all around her and she heard some of her 'friends' whispering about whose butt was better looking. Her heart rate began to increase and she crumpled to the floor, on hands and knees , her eyes flicking left and right as a shocking sight met her eyes. She couldn't see the concrete of the road that she was touching.

In fact, weirdly enough, she could see right through it, as if the road was made of some translucent material and she could see the dozen pipelines that ran beneath the tar roads and it freaked her out to her core. All of a sudden, a barrage of sounds and sound waves banged at her eardrums and she clutched her ears, crying out in pain as she tried to block out the sound by cupping her hands around it.

"Kara,dear? What's going on? Are you alright?", she heard the worried voice of the councilor with them.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up with a strained face . But what she saw made her heart drop down into her stomach . She could see the figures of people she knew standing encircled around her . But she couldn't make out their faces at all. Instead, what she saw was their body organs, live and functioning inside their bodies. She could see it all. Their heart pumping the crimson liquid; their lungs expanding and contracting as they breathed.

She could even, to a certain extent , see minuscule flashes of energy within their bodies, which were their nerve signals, but she did not know that. It looked horrific, seeing their body organs functioning from within the cage that was their skeletal system. And worst of all, when she looked up at where their faces should have been, she could see circular eyeballs rolling in place within the hollow of their skull as they eyed her as if she was some lunatic.

Back on the tanker, 'mad max' was cackling like a maniac as he spun the steering around. Barry had no choice but zip around, moving civilians out of the way. Clark Kent would be pretty pissed if he found out that S.T.A.R labs were housing reserves of synthesized Kryptonite as a safety measure, even though the only kryptonian anywhere in the galaxy was superman. At least that was what he had heard. So, if what he was guessing was true, he was the last barrier that kept superman from blasting down and demolishing star labs for what they were doing.

Just then, he felt the distinct vibrations in the air behind him and he recognized it as the sensation of bullets being released and a small gasp of breath exited his mouth before he switched directions and sped as fast as he could toward the tanker . Time seemed to slow down around him , like a slow motion scene from a was one part of his powers that never got old.

Seeing the world go slow around you did seem pretty funny at times. And sure enough, upon reaching the window of the tanker at mach four speed, he reached in a pulled out the AK forty seven rifle in Max's hands and managed to duck out of the way just in time before he tried to punch at Barry. Barry cursed and sped ahead to move the civilians out of the way as Mad max boomed in laughter, scratching his scruffy aubrun sideburns.

 _Man.. What I wouldn't do to get some help from Superman or lantern or…anybody…_ , Barry thought to himself as he zipped around, a mere blur of crimson to the naked eye.

Kara licked her lips and her pupils began to dilate as fear consumed her. She had seen such things on television before but seeing the real deal was another thing altogether. She could see it, feel the hearts rhythm beat through vibrations that spread out through the concrete . She could hear cars honking from a mile away, drunkards yelling obscene things at each other, a drug trade happening down on sixth avenue, what was happening to her? She felt incredibly strong with adrenaline rushing through her body due to the sudden shock she was experiencing.

She felt strong enough to break though the concrete beneath her but that was not all. She felt incredibly weak and vulnerable as well. She had contracted fevers before but never like this. She felt pain rush though her body and her vision began to blur in an out of focus. She hung her head and tried to shake out the noises and her eyes were clamped shut, fearful of what they might see next. She could hear the distinct sound of a tanker engine whirring in the street around the curve and a very coarse sounding man booming in laughter .

"Kara, come on. Let's get you home. Maybe you've been in the sun too long. ", the councilor's voice said, sounding the loudest as it came from right next to where Kara stood , panting and in terror.

She felt the councilor's hand clasp around her wrist as she tried to calm Kara down. But it wouldn't stop. She could still hear the other kids from the orphanage whisper very unkind things about how she was going crazy and should be escorted to Arkham or some other institution for the insane. She had never faced such mental trauma before and it all was happening just like that, as if something had triggered this to happen. In fact, Kara felt so mysteriously weak that she couldn't even bring herself to get up. Slowly, she opened her eyes to look at the others, hoping that everything had gone back to normal. But it didn't. She could still see their bones, their organs;she could still hear things that she wished she didn't.

She ….she needed to get away from all this. Acting on instinct, Kara wriggled out of the councilor's grasp, unknowingly spraining the woman's hand as Kara twisted it to escape. She didn't hear the woman's cry of pain over the louder noises surrounding her and she began to sprint onto the road, her hands cupping her ears , not looking where she was going.

Barry grabbed a ten year old boy out of the path of the tanker at the last second and he managed to zip up right in the path of the tanker,flashing him a victorious grin , erasing the triumphant sneer on Mad Max's face into a scowl as he frantically spun the steering wheel around. The tanker, much to Barry's surprise, screeched and whirred as it struggled to stay on track. Unseen by anyone else, the three other henchmen inside the cargo compartment of the tanker were being pinballed around as one of them struggled to keep the three kryptonite vials in place.

"Awh.. When does this douche give up?!", Barry groaned and sped forward .

He was fast and his punches at mach four speed could definitely injure a human being but unfortunately, he lacked any form of super strength or any power of that sort, therefore making the option of stopping the tanker by force irrational. He increased his speed, zipping around to save a bunch of teenagers and what appeared to be their mentor out of the way .

Upon setting them down, Barry noticed the how the kids had horrified looks on their faces and there was a shocked expression on the councilor's face as she pointed up at the road ahead, the part of the street that Barry had just sped in from to save them. He spun around and he took in a sharp intake of air as his brain froze numb in shock .

"Oh shit…", he mumbled.

The four tonne tanker was speeding straight toward what appeared to be blonde teenage girl, who was clutching her head as she sprinted, not looking where she was going. Barry was about to shoot forward to save the girl but it was too late. He could reach the spot, but his incredibly fast speed would risk breaking the girl's neck due to inertia and the resistance of a moving body to change. Helpless, Barry and the others watched in shock as the tanker's metallic front sped towards the girl .

Kara could still feel that bombardment of noises drilling against her ear drums and her vision was still unbalanced. One second, she was seeing normally and the next, she was seeing through the concrete as if it were a translucent material. Also, she felt her muscles growing weaker and she began to feel disoriented for no plausible reason . She was strangely feeling more and more fatigued the more steps she took.

Then, a loud noise honked at a decibel louder than all the other noises around her and Kara's face shot up on instinct . Her eyes widened in shock as she saw her distorted reflection on the clear metallic front of a ten foot tall tanker as it sped towards her, a mere three feet from where she was standing. She was too weak to move or get out of the way and she was struggling to breathe as well, strangely enough. So she did the one thing that her brain's reflex system told her body to do. She threw up her hands and cowered as she felt the cold surface of the metal come in contact with her elbow.

What the people saw next , no one could have predicted. On impact, the girl had not been blasted off ( as Barry had thought in which case he could have sped forward and caught her so that the impact would reduce), but instead, there was a resounding sound of metal creaking under stress and to everyone's shock, the blonde girl stood in place, not moving even an inch but the huge tanker that had hit her, on the other hand, had it's rear end lifted up over four feet off the ground due to the force of the impact and Mad Max, the triad leader, got hurled out of the vehicle, right through the windscreen with an echoing shattering noise and onto the pavement a few feet away with a painful groan.

Two emerald vials in cylindrical containers dropped out from the hands of two masked men standing atop the vehicle and cascaded onto the concrete road , rolling towards Kara's feet. The men lost their balance on impact and fell off from the tanker, groaning as they hit the ground.

With an echoing clanging noise, the giant vehicle slammed it's rear wheels back onto solid ground as Kara still had her elbows buried deep into the metal, unmoving. Everyone , including Barry Allen, was just too shocked to speak, as they stood dumbfounded and confused , with his jaw hanging open at what he had just seen. So this girl had to be a meta-human or something like that. That was the first thought that crossed his mind after a few prolonged seconds. Smoke was wafting out of the damaged and deeply dented front engine of the huge cargo tanker as the girl gasped, catching her breath , staggering back from her position. Barry slowly edged forward, unsure of what to make of this as his eyes darted to the unconscious figure of Max , lying spread-eagled on the road . As he approached the girl, he noticed that her eyes seemed rather bleary and her skin was too pale to be on full health levels .

Then, all of a sudden, the girl's eyes dropped down and fell on the emerald crystal vials lying harmlessly halfway between her and Barry. The next thing that they all saw was the blonde girl's eyes rolling back into their sockets, as she let out a small groan of fatigue, and her body became limp as her knees buckled and she crumpled to the ground.

Barry sped forward and caught the young girl in his arms just in time , but the blonde had already lost consciousness and was lying like a rag doll in his arms , her blonde hair falling over her face as her head hung sideways. He took off his glove and pressed his palm onto her forehead. It felt hot and clammy and rather strained as well.

He bit his lip, trying to figure out who this girl was and what had just happened. He noticed how weak and pale she looked and yet, she appeared to have been strong enough to withstand a heavy collision from a cargo tanker like that.

"Call an ambulance!", he cried out to the gathering crowd on instinct.

After all, meta-human or not, the first thing he would do was to let the professionals handle the health matters .As he was about to turn around, his eyes found the two emerald vials lying harmlessly on the tar road behind him. Then his quickly darted his gaze to the weakened girl in his arms as a wild guess began forming in his head.

"Oooooh boy.", he muttered as the sudden possibility that the girl was kryptonian dawned on him.

 **So that's it for this chapter folks! Let me know what you think! And although this is a story focusing on this version of supergirl, it'll be a teen titans/justice league story in general. Constructive criticism is appreciated but please, no mean comments! Thanks and until next time, see ya!**


	2. Chapter 2- The Man Of Steel

**Thank you for all the reviews so far! This chapter is more focused on character development and we've not met the Titans yet. And I plan on adding one or two OC versions of certain characters to the titans team for this story. Don't worry, the main guys are still there. Any possible suggestions are welcome and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!**

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Two – The Man Of Steel**

"So.. Clark said he's on his way here . ", Barry remarked as he threw the comms unite he had used to contact Superman across the twelve foot long platinum table that stretched out across the room. He slid off his mask and dropped down onto a nearby foam layered chair, sighing in relief as he stretched out his back muscles.

"Umm. So.. don't you think calling Clark in just like that is.. kinda.. I dunno… drastic?", he remarked to the only other person in the room.

"No.", Batman replied mono chromatically, not taking his eyes off the giant holographic computer screen that was calculating the blood count in the blonde girl's DNA sample.

Barry cocked his eyebrows."Right. Right… Okay.. Got it..", he remarked, pursing his lips. Crossing Bruce Wayne proved to be harder than achieving mach three speeds at times. And frankly speaking, he just didn't have the energy right now to cross the Batman after most of his energy had been spent during the events of over seven hours ago.

Barry slouched in his chair, fiddling with his thumbs , his eyes darting left and right in boredom. Sure, he was rather adept at investigations and all that sort of stuff, if he did say so himself, but the Batman never let him touch his toys, not that he complained. Nobody in their right minds would want to get on the wrong side of the Batman. Suddenly, Barry felt his stomach growling and with a jerk, he realized that he hadn't had his daily dose of ten thousand calorie intake of food yet.

"Be back in a flash. ", Barry announced as Bruce ignored him. And within the blink of an eye, Barry zipped out of the room in a crimson blur and by the time Bruce had turned around to nod, the flash had already returned, with a burger in his hand and some french fries lying on a tray on the table. Bruce didn't say anything, but gave him a long hard stoic look from under his mask.

"What?", Barry shrugged, taking a mouthful of burger as he defended himself. Bruce said nothing and returned to the computer monitor, which was displaying a three dimensional figure of a DNA sample, which was comparing the structure of the girl's, to that of Superman. If Barry's hunch was right, the DNA testing should prove the facts. Just then, the computer beeped and brought Bruce out of his thoughts. Barry zipped forward and gazed at the monitor, trying to put his investigator skills to use by trying to decipher the complex coding system encrypted on the computer.

"Hmm.. Both sample structures are similar to each other . They both contain the same amount of DNA strands and posses the same blood cell count. ", Bruce remarked, mostly thinking aloud to himself , as Barry nodded, keeping up with the facts. "The only difference with each sample is the fact that sample B, that is the girl's sample, contains a strand of the DNA chromosome which is identical to a human DNA strand, which Clark's sample does not possess. ", Bruce continued.

Barry scratched his head, coming to his own conclusion but unsure of whether they both were on the same page. "If what the DNA testing is accurate, then this is proof that she has Kryptonian blood in her. However, the specific structuring indicates that she also has human blood in her. So.. If my guess is correct, she is of both worlds. Half Kryptonian and half Human. ", Bruce elaborated as Barry's eyes widened as the realization hit him that they had just stumbled across another Super being.

However, Bruce's face still remained unchanged by the fact that they possibly had a new ally. "But that's not the most unbelievable part of the DNA result. If what the tests show are accurate.. then.. Most likely than not, the girl is somehow related to Clark. And not his human heritage, his Kryptonian blood line. ".

This time, Barry almost tripped over the chair in shock at such news. He couldn't believe it. Superman was no longer the last Kryptonian in the galaxy.

"GET OUTTA TOWN!", was all Barry could managed to exasperate in his shocked and yet surprised state of mind. Then a thought hit him. If he reacted to the news that Clark had a living blood relative then he wondered hos the man himself would behave to the shocking news. He wondered how the entire league would react to the news.

Amidst all this shock and confusion, he turned his gaze back to the looming figure of the Batman, expecting him to react the same way. To show some form of shock at such a revelation. But nothing. He didn't even move a muscle on his face, standing stoic as always. Without another word, he turned and placed a finger on his chin, his eyes squinting behind the mask, deep in thought.

"My only question, is why the girl had never exposed herself to be a kryptonian before today. Why now?", Bruce pondered, running his eyes over the results being displayed on screen. Barry scoffed and walked over. "Aw Come on. I respect you, Batman.. sir.. but even I gotta admit.. You kinda seem like you lack any real emotion sometimes. I mean.. some form of shock would be nice. Just so that.. I.. you know.. don't feel stupid for acting like I just did. ", Barry finished uneasily , rubbing the back of his neck. Bruce simply eyed him momentarily before picking up the kryptonite sample Barry had brought.

"You really don't know when to stop talking, don't you?", he remarked, placing the emerald crystal down as he moved forward and began writing encryptions to decipher the molecular code of the DNA samples for more concrete evidence. Just then, Barry felt a small vibrations echoing from behind him and he sensed thee feeling of another stirring body in the room, besides the two of them. The girl was beginning to regain her consciousness.

The first thing that Kara's senses told her when she came to , was the searing pain in her left temple. Her temple throbbed hard and she could almost feel it's heartbeat-like rhythm to the point where she wanted it to stop. She also felt incredibly groggy and faint, unable to muster up the strength to stand up. She could feel her ear drums vibrating softly within her ear canals and the first thing they relayed to her brain was the fact that she wasn't alone. She could hear the faint and muffled murmur of male voices from her surrounding and she tried to raise her hands to try and rub her eyes awake.

But as she tried to pull her hand free, her skin met with the cold sensation of being pressed against tried again and again . On the third try, she realized that her legs were secured too, at the ankle. She began to groan as she clenched her teeth, trying to break free of the metal. Her breathing rate began to increase exponentially and her adrenaline began to rush as panic plagued her mind. She was trapped. With a shock, images, or flashes of what she had done the last time she was conscious came to the forefront of her her mind. She had smashed a heavyweight cargo tanker like it was nothing . She opened her eyes and began to glance around frantically, trying to figure out where she was. It certainly didn't seem like the hospital.

She closed her eyes and tried to pull again . This time, her panic was beginning to get replaced by anger at being chained up like this and it fueled her. She began to feel incredible power surging through her and she roared as her body regained energy. Her roar alerted whoever her captors were of her presence but she couldn't care less. If she had managed to smash a cargo tanker in, she could take on a couple of thugs.

With rage rising inside her, she yanked her hands upwards and with a clang, the metal restrains holding her in place snapped . She broke her ankle restrains simultaneously and leapt out of the glass rectangular room she was being kept in.

"What was that?", Barry said, jerking his head towards the source of the noise. Looking left, he saw Batman readying some sort of tranquilizer gun that seemed to have green bullets in it. Barry raised an eyebrow. "Really? You created kryptonite bullets out of the sample I gave you in such a short time?".

"I don't condone having to use force to subdue her but since neither of us have super strength as a power, she can be contained with this for the time being. ", Bruce replied nonchalantly, clicking the tranquilizer gun in place.

Before Barry could retort, there was a loud ' _BANG!_ ' and the chamber that the blond girl was being held in burst open in a plume of dust and translucent smoke and the figure of the girl rolled outside. So she didn't have full control over her powers apparently.

Bruce brought up the gun to his cheek and took aim as a precautionary measure, ready for any sudden reactions. They still didn't know the full extent of the girl's powers, considering the fact that she was half human . Barry's attention turned back to the girl's when a strained groan elicited from her and she picked herself off the floor onto her hands and knees, her head hung low with her hair hanging off.

Barry exchanged looks with Bruce when the girl stayed like that and slowly edged forward, not resorting to his speed on the off chance that the girl got shocked and activated her powers again.

"Uhm... Miss? Are you all-", Barry encroached tentatively but drifted off when the girl began to groan and her body began to shake , trembling from shoulder to limb. Barry glanced back to see Bruce's face had stiffened and his index finger was dangerously close to the trigger. The gun was only a tranquilizer but it still didn't look nice to see the Batman with a gun.

Kara could feel her body heat rising her body began trembling , trying to contain whatever was coming or from the pain, she didn't know . But she could feel her body heat getting focused towards her eyeballs . At the same time, her boiling anger at being held up like some sort of freaky science experiment didn't help curb the intense heat building up near her peripheral area either. She could hear faint mumbling , most likely from whoever her captors were, and she could hear the faint footsteps as one drew closer to her . But she didn't care. She was trying to control her fury and let out an involuntary groan as the body heat left her body and focused in on her eyeballs. She didn't know what was happening to her.

Just then, the girl's groans grew more stronger and from what Barry could see, the crumbs of concrete on the floor began to levitate an inch off the ground and before he knew what was happening, the girl screamed violently as if in pain and a powerful crimson streak of intense heat burst out of where her eyes and narrowly missed Barry as he dashed out of the way . The beam of energy shot straight towards the computing units and with a resounding crack, burst the system, frying it's units in a small plume of smoke as the metal of the computer frame began to melt like oozing magma.

This latest revelation confirmed the fact that she had Kryptonian blood in her, for Barry and Bruce hadn't seen any meta human on earth who could do such a thing. As they ducked and watched, the girl seemed to be unable to control the intense , crimson beam of energy bursting out of her eyes and she screamed as she turned her head upwards. As she did so, the beam of energy followed her eyesight , traveling upward from the molten mess of metal that used to be the computer mainframe. As the beam neared the ceiling, they watched as the girl clapped her hands to her eyes, struggling to contain the crimson light, clearly unable to stop it. As they stood watching a sudden and completely impractical thought popped into Bruce's head.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she didn't even know about her powers until now. ", he remarked softly as he prepped his dart gun, clicking it into place, ready to fire. Barry's face drifted off in thought as the realization dawned on him.

"That makes sense..", he muttered softly before he was shaken out of his inner thoughts by a loud and resounding boom echoed through the room and the girl's screaming stopped abruptly as there was a sound of two bodies colliding with each other with intense force.

Barry turned around to find Bruce lowering his gun and he peered out to find the blonde girl, hair sprawled, lying in the molten rubble of fried circuits of her own doing. Standing, well, technically hovering just a few feet away from her was the man of steel, clad in his easily recognizable navy blue attire and red cape flapping gloriously due to the after effects of the speed with with he had probably zoomed into the room.

"Oh boy.. ", Barry muttered as he and Bruce walked out towards their colleague, he was dusting his hands together.

Superman, or as the people who knew him called him- Clark Kent, slowly drifted towards the two familiar faces with his crimson cape fluttering graciously behind him and landed silently next to them as Bruce powered down the tranquilizer gun . Barry, on the other hand, crept towards the figure of the knocked out teenage girl, who looked like she was knocked out cold.

"She's not gonna be happy when she gets up.", he muttered as Clark flashed Bruce a welcoming smile.

"Sorry I was late. got caught up stopping a newbie criminal called the 'Road Rager' on my way here. Rather unpleasant guy in smell and his powers include a nasty stink bomb.", he grimaced as Bruce slid his mask off. "So. What was so important that the Batman had to give me a call for?",Clark remarked in a slightly humorous tone. Bruce didn't even show the slightest hint of a smile and simply stared at the man of steel. He then nodded to the figure of the unconscious girl who was being lifted off the debris by Barry.

"Her.", he simply stated, placing the gun down . Clark cocked his eyebrows, sparing the unconscious girl a sideways glance as Barry was looking at her with a slightly concerned expression, from the looks of it.

"What about her?", Clark persisted, still not understanding why this girl, who had been destroying the Justice League Headquarters just moments before, was supposed to be so important to Clark.

Bruce didn't say anything, but turned away as Barry approached him, rubbing his neck sheepishly. "Yeah.. I don't exactly know how to tell you this but.. remember how you'd always go on and on about how you're the last Kryptonian ?", he said, to which Clark nodded, still not understanding what him being Kryptonian had to do with him being called here. Barry chuckled awkwardly .

"Yeah.. um.. Let's just say that you just knocked out one of your own species . ", Barry remarked . Clark's mind didn't wrap around the information so quickly but when it clicked, his eyes widened in a mixture of disbelief and excitement.

" WAIT. WHAT!?".

* * *

"So she's supposed to be half Kryptonian?", Clark remarked (slightly in disbelief), with a look of absolute amazement still etched across his face. It had been about ten minutes now since Barry had broken the news to Superman and the man of steel still seemed pretty psyched about it. Barry wondered how it felt, to learn all your life that you were the last of your kind, only to learn abruptly and in a shock that you had one other still alive.

"According to the tests conducted. Yes. ", Bruce said, for what was like the third time in ten minutes. Even Bruce had to admit that he was a little surprised to see Superman have a childish grin on his face.

"And from the DNA readings, she has identical chromosome numbers to yours - Shortly put, she shares your blood. ", Bruce completed as he opened up the spare bat computer on the batpod.

"So do you know any.. ya know.. Relatives who might still be alive or something?", Barry interrupted, feeling a little left out of the conversation. Clark scratched his chin , thinking for a moment. "Not really .. No.. Although.. back in the fortress of solitude, My father's conscience AI did mention something about his sister coming along as my guardian.. but I don't know any person like that. ", Clark huffed, his smile faltering slightly.

"Could be that your possible Aunt made it to earth and had a child with one of the humans. ", Bruce remarked, shifting a bunch of gadgets around, still not sparing his two companions a glance.

"Okay. But that doesn't explain why she never came for me or even visited me. ", Clark said softly, slightly crestfallen , thinking about the fact that he had some other like him all along on the planet and she never came to him. Somehow, this made him feel all the more attached to the blond teenage girl sitting unconscious on one of the chairs.

"I need more time to be able to answer that question of yours... unless the girl can answer it for you. ", Bruce remarked, glancing over his shoulder.

"But she acted like she had never experienced those abilities before. As if they were new to her. What I don't get is.. if she has the same powers as yours, how come she can't been able to use them before?", Barry inquired, scratching his head.

"Genetics. Her human DNA coding probably forced her Kryptonian side to go dormant all these years , seeing as they weren't required. And my guess is when she was within a close enough proximity to those Kryptonite crystals, her dormancy coding probably got unlocked. ", Bruce said, placing a blue flash disk into the internal computer on his glove.

"That kinda explains it. ", Barry admitted, an impressed expression etched across his face.

* * *

It was like deja vu. It was happening all over again. Kara could hear the indistinct mumbling of three voices in the same room as her and her head was aching , throbbing hard. Flashes of what she had done just the last time she was conscious flashed in her head. So she could stop a heavy duty cargo tanker without moving an inch and shoot lazer out of her eyes. Cool. Then she remembered that sonic sound of a speeding body shooting at her and that sharp pain in her back as something hard had struck her, sending her crashing into the wall and knocked her out . What was that?

With a groan, she tried to pull her hands up and thankfully, she could. At least she wasn't bound in metal restrains this time around. And.. she seemed to be sitting on a soft cushioned chair,as opposed to the hard metal examination table she had been tied to before.

She sat upright and massaged her head, eyes still shut, and noticed the discussing men's voices go dead silent all of a sudden. Then, a voice she had heard a few times of the television spoke in front of her, directly to her.

"Uh.. excuse me miss. But.. I apologize for knocking you out before. I hope we can start over. I am Superman.".

And so it was. Kara's gasped in amazement as the man of steel stood a little over two inches away from where she sat, towering over her in figure but still had an approachable look on his face as he held out his hand to help her up. His whole torso was so muscular and big that Kara could guess that she would be a midget next to him , despite her own body frame being more muscular than most girls she'd met.

"Alfred, I'm sending you a source code . It's military encrypted. I need you to decode it and access the hard drive. The computers here are fried. ", a gruff unemotional voice spoke from behind Superman. Peering over, an even louder gasp elicited from her mouth. She was standing in the same room as Superman, Batman and the Flash. That was something that didn't happen every other day.

"Very well, sir. ", an elderly sounding voice on the other end of the comms unit Batman was using , replied before it buzzed and snapped Batman then turned to face Kara with his ever present stoic expression and Kara let out an involuntary gasp when she recognized the man as Bruce Wayne, the billionaire Playboy who funded the orphanage that she had grown up in , among many others. Yes. There was no mistaking his face. And her eyes then fell on the blonde , blue eyed man in the unmistakable crimson costume that belonged to Central City's own Flash. Funny, she always thought the flash to be around her age, considering the humor the man passes off when apprehending his criminals on television.

She picked herself up and moved past Superman, who had a bewildered look on his face. She moved towards the imposing figure of Bruce Wayne and began to softly poke his armored suit, just to make sure that she wasn't dreaming.

"Oh is really happening. ", she muttered.

Bruce Wayne , for the first time, actually smirked at Superman. "Looks like she's a bigger fan of me than you. ". At that moment, an amused chuckle rang through the room, coaxing all the three people to turn to the blond man that was the flash. He continued to chuckle until Superman shot him an angry glare.

The man of steel then walked towards Kara and offered her a kind smile, which she returned, albeit confused a little. Why were all these superheros walking around exposing their secret identities for her to see? WAIT. Was it because of what she had.. could do?

"Look. I'm sorry for knocking you out. We may have gotten off on the wrong terms, Miss..?", Superman began, extending her hand out to shake it. It felt weird, to act all formal with a man who many considered to be a god. "Kara. The name's Kara. ", she replied.

"Kara.", Superman repeated and stood back. nodding to Bruce Wayne at first. "I'm sure you've guessed who he is. And this is Barry Allen, but you probably know him as the flash. ", he continued, nodding to the blonde haired man, who had apparently gotten so bored of the conversation that he had zoomed out and back in a second, his mouth full with a burger. "Hi!", he grinned .

"And my name is Clark Kent..And.. this may be a shock to you but.. Uh.. I don't know how to tell you this but..", Superman fumbled, leaving Kara shocked as to why he had just given up his secret identity to her, of all people.

"He means to tell you that he is your blood relative. You're superman's family ..basically . ", Barry Allen interjected nonchalantly . But the look on Kara's face proved otherwise. She thought she had misheard what the flash had said. But looking at Superman's face, she knew that what she had heard was true.

"WHAT!?",she exclaimed in shock.

* * *

"Well.. that could've gone better...", Clark sighed, rubbing the back of his head as the three superheros waited for Kara to go get changed as the clothes she had been wearing had been singed and smeared in various areas. Upon request, Barry had been kind enough to zip out and back in a second, his hands holding a few clothes that he apparently picked up from a yard sale or something.

"Honestly, I think she took it well... ", Barry remarked, scratching his chin. "I mean.. it's not everyday a superhero comes along and tells you that you're his family..". Barry chuckled. "Yeah. But it happened in the opposite to you didn't it? With Damian being basically dropped onto your doorstep.". Bruce gave him a stoic glare, which he coughed and cowered under.

Clark nodded. They were all waiting till Kara got changed and had calmed down a bit. At first, she thought someone was playing prank on her, then when she realized the gravity of the situation and how her super strength and energy blast from her eyes were eerily similar to superman's own powers, even she couldn't deny the fact. While she was still shocked at her having super powers, the fact that she was superman's family added to her level of shock and disbelief. It had taken almost an entire two hours to calm her down and explain the situation to her.

"I've located the orphanage she lives in. I can sign the adoption papers for you and-", Bruce began, looking up from his computer but Clark cut him short. "No. I want to adopt her on my own. She's family. ".

Clark wanted to do this. If he couldn't do this himself, how could he even think of taking care of Kara? He didn't want Bruce's or anyone else's help in this and that was final. He would go to her orphanage and adopt her.

Bruce and Barry stayed silent, exchanging glances at each other. They hadn't seen Clark with such a determined expression before.

"Thank you for all your help so far. Really. But she's my family. I need to take care of her. I WANT to take care of her. I hope you understand. ", Clark pressed on, seeing the unsure expressions on their faces. He knew the risks of course. If she turned out bad, it would as well be the end of humanity if someone were to find out about her and use her, since she's probably as powerful as he was.

Finally, to his relief, Bruce nodded. "Alright. But she needs proper training before she can enter the field . She can join the titans first. ".

Clark stood up. He was not going to have that. He wanted to spend as much time as possible with his only remaining family member left. Even if she was half-human.

"No. She stays with me. She's my family and I can take care of her. ",Clark said with an undeniable edge to his voice. Barry bit his lip as he could sense the anger radiating off the man of steel. "No. She needs proper training and an arguable level of control over her new found powers. She's otherwise dangerous to society if she can't control her powers like you are a bunch of criminals out there who will see her as a way to get to you. Do you want that? No. She needs to spend time training with people her age so that she has better control over her powers before she can be introduced to society . ", Bruce said in a commanding voice, turning to face Clark, with his jawline tightening .

"Exactly! She needs to learn how to control her own strength and realize her powers and the only person in the entire galaxy who understands her powers is me! I can help her , Bruce . ", Clark argued, waving his arms around to emphasize his point.

To be honest, Barry did feel sorry for superman . He had a desperate look on his face-a man holding onto the last piece of his home planet. But Barry had to agree with Bruce too; his argument was the more practical one. She needed proper training , full time. Clark could only be there for her for so long before he had to leave on league missions.

Tensions began to rise, Barry zipped up and stood in between Batman and Superman, his hands on both their chests to stop them from arguing any further because they looked like they were on the verge of throwing punches at each other.

"Hrnghh... Alright people... " ,Barry interjected. "Boy you guys are strong. what do you eat?..", he groaned, struggling slightly as he pushed the imposing figures back. "How about this? She can stay with Clark for a few days. He can teach her the basics of her powers and get to know her better as well. Then, afterwards.. maybe she can join the titans? How does that sound? Come on.. It's the best suggestion I got right now people. ".

At first, both Clark and Bruce stood their ground, not saying a word. Both of them respected each other's opinion but both of them wanted their suggestion to go through. But both of them did understand that coming to a compromise was the best solution at the moment and slowly nodded, easing up.

Just then, they all heard footstep approaching and they quickly eased up, not wanting the teenager to see the superheros arguing like this when they were supposed to be a team.

"Well... I guess.. I'm ready...?", Kara said , a bit unsure of herself, as she walked in. She had changed into a blood red checkered button shirt that she wore over a pale creamy white tank top and some ripped dark blue jeans.

Clark walked forward with a smile on his face while Barry turned to help out the Batman with something apparently,but Kara had the inkling that he just wanted to leave her alone with the alien who claimed to be her blood relative. No matter how much she looked at it in disbelief, the theory did line up. She had super strength, he had super strength. She had energy blasts shooting from her eyes, he had laser eyes. Plus, there was that DNA result that batman ran on their blood samples and they matched for the most part. There was no denying it. Superman was her family. It was going to take some getting used to.

"Um.. so.. where are we going.. exactly?", Kara inquired tentatively, as superman led the way down the hallway, all the while Kara was getting curious glances from some of the employees of the building. Funnily enough, Superman or...Clark.. as she was supposed to call him now, wore a very childlike grin on his face, like a child who had just received his favorite toy for Christmas .

"First I'm going to officially adopt you with signed papers. Then we go over to some McDonalds.. How does that sound?", he asked eagerly. Kara did feel surprised that he was so eager to spend time with her. She was normally one of the less approachable girls at the orphanage, since she basically beat the crap out of the the ring leader of the gang in the orphanage called the 'lost boys'. And she did feel elated that she would be leaving that depressing place once and for all.

"I do love burgers.", she chuckled awkwardly.

As they walked out the front door of the building to the compound outside, she noticed that it was already dusk, with the blood red skies lighting up the land. Wow. She had been knocked out so long. It felt weird. She turned to Clark.

"Um.. so where's your car?". He chuckled and smirked at her. "Oh there's no car. Until you discover how to fly, I'm your fastest means of transport. ", he added before he grabbed Kara by the waist, taking her completely by surprise and before she could protest, he shot skywards with her clutching onto him for dear life, gasping for air, but excited at the same time.

* * *

Kara had been having a pretty weird day so far. It had started off with an early morning visit to the central city museum. Then, for some unknown reason, she started to feel weak and sick. Then,she managed to stop a bunch of bank robbers by crashing their cargo tanker without meaning to. She found out she had superpowers(which was pretty awesome). Then she met Barry Allen, Central City's own Flash. She found out her orphanage's benefactor , Bruce Wayne , was the Batman. Then she found out that she apparently was a blood relative of Superman.

The weirdest thing she had to experience that day was when she walked into the orphanage with Clark Kent , who adopted her, and having to go back into her now former dorm and pack up all the possessions she ever had. Most of the kids she knew stayed wary of her, except for a few girls she actually considered friends. She was going to miss them. But the weirdest part, however, was when she found out the the orphanage mistress, had known about Kara's powers all along, since she had known her human father Richard. Although Zena had apparently never met Kara's mother in person, she was sure that she was the Kryptonian link .

This, of course confirmed the fact that Kara was, in fact related to Superman . The message he had from his father, Jor-El, apparently mention about his younger sister being there with him, to take care of him. Which meant that Kara's mother had to be Jor-El's younger sister, Alura, according to the message. That meant that Kara was Superman's cousin. Or rather Kal-El's cousin, if she called him by his Kryptonian name. And according to Clark, her full name, if he was correct, was Kara Zor-El. Not the name of belonging she had always wanted, but it was still something. Though she still liked her new public name better- Kara Kent.

The apartment Clark Kent lived in was not huge and extravagant, but it wasn't too small or dingy either. For a girl who had grown up all her life having to share everything she owned with her roommates and peers, living with her newly discovered cousin would be a welcome change.

His apartment was on fifth avenue in Metropolis, only seven blocks away from the daily planet building, the place he worked at as Clark Kent. He did, however, run a blog on the web with his only assistant at the moment- part time employee Catherine Grant.

There were many portraits of weird art that hung from the trapezium shaped entrance hall of the apartment , and a medium sized portrait of him with rather good looking woman with jet black hair and sky blue eyes. Somehow, this woman did seem familiar to Kara, as if she had seen her somewhere. But she couldn't put a finger on it.

A fairly large enough television set sat at the end of the room, behind which was the curtained doors that led to the balcony. There were many small notes and post it's stuck in various areas of the room, with notes scribbled on it, no doubt for his day job as a journalist. From her vantage point, she could see two rooms, most probably one for her and one which he used. Then there was the kitchen that was separated from the small dining room across the hall.

"I hope it's not that bad..", she heard Clark's voice behind her as he placed her rucksack on the chocolate brown floorboards.

"Oh no! It's pretty nice, actually. I've never had a place to myself so anything where I can be on my own is good for me. ", she replied, flashing him a smile. If he was her cousin and her only known family left, she might as well warm up to him, though it was weird having to see a famous superhero as your cousin brother.

Her assumption was confirmed when Clark led her to one of the rooms with a white wooden door.

"Then I hope you'll like this . ", he remarked with a grin before stepping back and switching on the lights.

And it look nice it did. It was not the most posh or well kept room like the ones you see on Television were. But Kara loved it anyway. It was _her_ room and no one else's. She had her own space for the first time in her life.

A six foot long soft bed with a comfy looking mattress occupied the middle of the room, with a few novels lining up the small book stand on the left wall. An average length wooden table stood pressed against the south wall of the room, with chair drawn up and a reading light installed. From the window, she could see all the way up to nicker streets, four blocks down. She could tell it wasn't prepared yet, considering the fact that Clark utilized the time to zip around the apartment at super speed, fixing the room for her.

She was brought out of her moment gazing at the view outside when Clark cleared his throat to signal that he was done. His was brushing his hands over the black turtle neck sweater he was wearing and stroked his black hair over his head, adjusting his glasses.

"So.. uhmm. Welcome aboard . If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask. I'm right outside.. doing some work. Make yourself at home.", he said with a small smile before closing the door behind him.

The moment the door closed shut. Kara let out a gust of air and collapsed onto the bed in relief. Now she could truly be herself. Seeing a man as your family would take some getting used to for her, considering the fact that she had grown up getting bullied and shutting people out at the orphanage. But now, that life was behind her. Now her new life as the sixteen year old with superpowers began. Her life as Superman's cousin sister began. Her life as Kara Zor-El began.

* * *

 **Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3- Titans

**Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Three - Titans**

It had been one month and two days since the day she had found out she had superpowers. It had been over a month since she found out her mother's name and the fact that she was half Kryptonian. More importantly, it had been over a month now since she had been in training with her cousin brother ,Clark Kent, on how to control her powers, which, she had been embarrassed to admit, had gone berserk on more than one occasion.

One of the most embarrassing moments was when she ended up sneezing pretty hard , and not understanding her strength, didn't bother to cover up her mouth out of practice like she had done all her life (prior to her getting her powers activated due to the exposure to the Kryptonite crystals back in Central city.)

Needless to say, she ended up blasting the door of her room down from the strength of her very breath and caught sight of his cousin and his girlfriend, Diana Prince, deep in a lip lock that made Kara cringe and scoff. She had gained acquaintance with Diana when he had taken Kara along when he had gone to Pick up Diana for an evening night out, but hadn't spent enough time with her to say that she liked her fully. She seemed pleasant enough and did seem deeply in love with her cousin.

Furthermore, She had fully forgotten that Clark was having a quiet, at home-date with his girlfriend (who turned out to be the princess of Themyscira herself, Wonder woman). That little incident cut their date short as the two of them ended up helping Kara fix her door since she hadn't mastered the extent of her newfound strength yet and Clark didn't want her to unknowingly crush the wooden door in her hands. Clark didn't say anything and neither did Diana, but Kara knew she had disturbed their 'alone time'.

On another note, she had taken quite a liking for Barry Allen- the flash -over the past couple of weeks and saw him now as a cool brother figure/friend rather than a superhero. He was the one person who shared her own huge appetite and also, surprisingly enough, shared her liking for ice hokey and soccer , something Clark had been jealous of since he hadn't been able to do that, at least not to that level yet.

Not that Kara thought any less of her cousin, of course. He was the family she had always wanted- kind, caring, helpful. But he was a full blown adult. In all the sense. Barry still had a teenage zest to him that she could relate to that Clark did not possess.

But the one person Kara found hardest to impress or even get along with, was mister tall , brooding and Serious. Batman. Or Bruce Wayne, depending on how you knew the guy.

He had not once flashed Kara a smile or cracked a joke and maintained a serious demeanor throughout their little counselling sessions Clark had allowed her to go to, upon Bruce's request.

These counselling session themselves were quite tedious and irritable. Kara would be asked to take part in a range of physically draining activities like sprinting at max speed on a treadmill and lifting eighty pound weight disks, which, even to her own surprise, was able to lift with ease. That part of her powers she loved. Being able to do things that many men could only dream of.

However, she still hadn't been able to fly or even launch herself into the air,no matter how many times she's tried, which she found incredibly irritating. Flying was the one thing she had mostly been looking forward to ever since she found out she had the same powers as Superman . But four weeks in and still nothing.

This did lead to some of the Justice league building employees wondering whether she would ever actually fly. That was one of the more irritating aspects of her powers. She could hear things a hundred times better than the normal human if she didn't control her powers . Hell, if she focused hard enough, she could even listen to a soccer match commentary happening in London, on the other side of the world.

There was also the fact that she still had some amount of trouble with her powers even now. She involuntarily began using her X-ray vision again but this time, since she had some degree of control over it, was able to stop it upto the level where she was basically seeing people without their clothes.

It was rather disturbing sometimes, when her X-ray vision switched on involuntarily and she would catch sight of some fat ,hairy bozo making ogling eyes at her. It disgusted her at times but for the past week, her involuntary X-ray forays had reduced to a maximum of two times the whole week. And thankfully the only thing she saw using her vision was a rather good looking skate board enthusiast she saw while down at a cafe with Clark the other day.

* * *

The forest green trees that bordered either side of the winding roadways was enough to absorb Kara's attention as she gazed blankly out the window of the car. She had her left cheek resting on her forearm folded back to her shoulder in a twenty degree angle with the side of her head resting on the window pane of the car window.

The view from this vantage point really was amazing to get lost looking at. The sparkling rays of the sunlight bounced off the blades of grass and danced across the surface of the sea water surrounding the area, making the scene with it's blue sky backdrop look like one of those greeting cards Kara had seen on television. It looked like it was right out of a movie.

"You okay?", Clark's voice inquired, snapping her back to reality."Hmm.", Kara responded blankly, running her hand through her hair shaking it out of her eyes. "I'm fine. ".

But that was a lie. A blatant lie. And she was stupid to think that for one second, her cousin, who could sense the heart rate increasing whenever a person lied would look past her obvious fabrication .

"I can pretend to believe that if you want me to. ", Clark remarked nonchalantly, looking ahead over the steering wheel onto the winding roads. Kara let out a defeated sigh. Today was the day Clark was dropping her off at this 'academy for young people with gifts like hers. The Titans. Which was supposed to be her new home , apparently. She knew her cousin didn't actually want to leave her there but she knew about his deal with Bruce Wayne to get her proper full time training, though she pretended not to know about it.

"Hrngh.. I just... I feel like I finally had a real family with you. You were the family I never had growing up.. And now.. I've gotta readjust myself again... I hoped I could've stayed with you. ", Kara let her thoughts toil out.

Clark stayed silent for a while .

"They're not so bad . The titans. Pretty warm bunch, if you ask me. Saved the world from a giant twenty storey tall demon over two years ago. And plus.. I'm not going away or anything. I'm still you family, legally and by blood. This is just to get you proper training so that you can control your powers better . And trust me, you don't want to learn this stuff on your own. I've been there. ", Clark chuckled.

Seeing that his cousin sister still had a rather solemn face, he let out a sigh.

"Look. Just stay there for a few weeks. See how it goes. Give em a chance. Maybe you'll like it. Maybe you won't. And believe me, if you don't, I'm more than capable of beating some sense into old brooding billionaire. ", Clark said and catching her eye, they both burst out laughing.

This felt nice. A feeling of lightheartedness. Kara knew one thing for sure now. Clark Kent was her family, by blood or not. He had become the big brother/father figure she never had. And it actually did pain her a little bit to be leaving him to stay on the titan base.

Just then, a shiny glint of sunlight caught her eye and she blinked under the brightness and shielded her eyes. Then, as her eyes adjusted to the bright light, the huge 'T' shaped tower loomed into view, a huge behemoth of a building against a backdrop of the blue ocean waters and the rest of San Francisco(close to which the Titan's tower was located), miles away from the bustling life of Metropolis. The Titans head quarters.

Kara let out an involuntary gasp of amazement at the sight before her eyes.

The tower was just like she had imagined from the pictures Clark had given her and yet , it was so much more. She was sure they were at least over fifteen minutes away from the tower and yet, it was so huge that she could still see it clearly. It was weird, since Kara found this building more eye catching and more unique than the justice league headquarters.

Seeing his cousin sister's reaction, Clark chuckled , stepped down on the accelerator and drove on .

* * *

"Whoa...", Kara let out a low whisper as her eyes widened in amazement when their car passed through the front security gates of the titans building. It looked even more massive up close than it did over fifteen minutes ago. With the team being basically a younger version of the justice league, she had thought she would find all security guards and other employees around but there was none, not that she was complaining. She had gotten really disgruntled during her visits to the justice league headquarters where the employees, especially the male ones, would stare shamelessly at her.

There was a straight cemented roadway from the front gates to the main entrance of the building and as Kara gazed out in awe, she saw the green landscape around them and the quaintly placed miniature fountains that lined the shrubbery along the border walls.

"They certainly seem eager to meet you. ", Clark remarked with a smile on his face.

Kara cocked an eyebrow at him first, slightly confused as to who 'they' were. But then her eyes caught sight of a small group of individuals standing right outside the main doors of the building , all lined up like a soccer teams standing around for their anthem to be played in a match.

"Remember, they're all people around your age and are going through the same thing, one way or another. ", Clark said, as he slowed the car down. Kara snorted.

"I doubt that. I'm pretty sure none of them have to go through a day having to suppress themselves all the time so that they don't end up seeing people in the nude without meaning to or breaking someone's bones without intending to. ", she scoffed hotly.

"And I'm not that far away. All you have to do is call me and I'm there, Kara. ", Clark said, ruffling her hair slightly, which she did not appreciate . Clark got the hint when a scowl appeared on her face as she readjusted her hair and slipped on the black headband that Diana had gotten her the other day. Checking her view in the mirror once more, she got out of the car , following her cousin brother as she slung her rucksack over her shoulder.

Six individuals stood at the entrance, just under the shade, to greet them. Six people of various powers, Kara presumed.

As she shut the door behind her, she could already sense them staring at her. Looking up, she caught a sense of who they were. Five of them were roughly around the same height, close to her own, but there was one who seemed like she was an adult.

She had flaming red hair that flowed down the length of her body along her back and her hair parted at the middle, neatly tucked around her hears. Kara took notice of her emerald glowing eyes and slightly orangish tanned skin tone . She seemed rather pretty with full lips and a very fit body. She wore a sort of purple unitard-like clothing that exposed her hips and her breasts, to a small extent, via a small diamond shaped window in the chest area of her clothing. She had long purple leg warmers connected to her boots that was pulled high over her knees, halfway up her thugs.

She flashed Clark a bright smile as she walked forward to him , extending a hand out to shake his own.

"Good to see you, Kori.", Clark remarked with a smile . The girl, who looked to be in her early twenties nodded with a warm smile. "Good to see you too, Superman. ".

Kara was a little taken aback that this girl, Kori, knew that Clark was superman. Then the fact that she was probably a superhero and knew their secret identities registered in her mind.

"I expect training sessions are going well?", Clark inquired. Kori nodded and smiled stood back and placed a hand on Kara's shoulder.

"This... Is Kara.", he simply said. Kori smiled down at her and stepped closer as she held out a hand . Kori wasn't all that tall as Clark was, but she still had an advantage of about two inches over Kara.

" I hope you find the place agreeable, Kara. ", Kori said, shaking Kara's hand. She then walked over to the remaining five people standing there in order to turn the attention to them. "Welcome. ".

There stood four boys and one girl, besides Kori herself.

One of the boys, arguably the shortest one, seemed rather stoic and from his easily recognizable costume and the 'R' insignia embedded on the right chest area, she knew he was the current robin. He had his jet black hair standing up in a slightly spiky hairdo and his emerald eyes pierced into Kara's own, as if he was X-raying her, even though she was the one that possessed that ability, not him.

He was two inches shorter then her own height and he had a rather rigid sense of air around him. He did wear a small smile on his face though. And she couldn't put a finger on it, but she thought he bore a strong resemblance to Bruce Wayne's own face. He was wearing the typical robin costume of blood red leathery material and skinny black pants along with dark green gloves and boots. He was perspiring a bit, as if he had been training just now.

Then, there was a guy who overall, based on his appearance, reminded Kara of the color green. He was green, had green spiky hair that fell in random directions across his head, green nails, slightly green tongue. Hell, even his whole skin was the color green.

He had a very excited and smitten expression on his face as he stared at Kara, like a child staring at an ice-delight or something. He was rather skinny in build and wore a red and white spandex costume . If Kara didn't know any better, she would've called him 'the grinch who stole Christmas', from that old movie the Orphanage mother had shown them over five years ago.

Next to him was a guy who wore what looked like an armored , weaponized suit with sharp edged appendages sticking out from behind his shoulders, connected to something that looked like a metal backpack. It was tightly fitted upto the top of his neck and covered his entire body, from neck to toe. The suit was dark blue in color for the most part, but with black layering woven into it.

The guy himself had a rather friendly face. He sported a mohawk and flashed a grin at her when their eyes met.

Next to him stood a guy just an inch taller than Kara herself. He sported jet black hair that stuck up in an unkempt and uncombed fashion , refusing to take orders from the plastic object that was the comb as it sprawled in random directions. He didn't wear any special costume like the others did but he did wear what looked like a very hefty bright green ring on his middle finger that seemed to glow slightly.

He wore a red checkered , loose fitting button shirt and a black tank top underneath , along with grey cargo shorts and white converse sneakers.

Behind the last guy stood a girl, who if Kara didn't have her sharp , enhanced vision, would've completely missed from sight. She stood silently, with the hood of the black costume she was wearing drawn up over her head, shrouding the top half of her face in shadow. Her skin was rather pale compared to the others and she seemed to have an interest in everything dark, considering the fact that most of her costume consisted of the colors dark purple and black only. Gloomy colors.

"Kori. Before I go, I need a private word with you. ", Clark said with a slightly stern expression, forcing Kara to eye her cousin with a cocked eyebrow. Why so serious ?

Kori also seemed to pick up on the sudden change in tone as she turned to the rest of them and to Kara.

"Kara, why don't you make yourself at home. Guys, show her around the place and help her get settle in , would you?", she asked in a sweet tone . The five teenagers nodded their heads and soon, Kara was being dragged along into the building by the boy with the green skin and his friends.

As Kara was being dragged away, she managed to sneak one last glance at her cousin as he began to speak with Kori. Kara wanted to listen in on their conversation , since she was sure it would be concerning her , but the group of teenagers surrounding her were more than capable of distracting her senses .

* * *

"The name's Garfield. ", the guy with the green skin skin said, before he performed a very heroic pose with his chest jutting out and his hands at his hips, staring off into the distance. "But I'm also known as the amazing beast boy. ", he added, with a smirk at Kara. Unseen by Garfield, Jaime and Kyle slapped a hand to their faces.

"And that's Jaime. ", Garfield said , indicating to the guy wearing the blue and black armor . The guy with the short mohawk gave Kara a cheery wave.

"That's Raven. ", Garfield then said, nodding towards the gloomy looking girl from before but this time, as she approached Kara, she actually took of her hood and flashed a smile at her, all the while revealing her had expected a rather gloomy looking face but she actually seemed friendly. She her purplish irises and angular eyebrows that matched her face well.

But what caught Kara's eye was the crimson diamond shaped crystal that seemed embedded onto her forehead. It looked slightly eerie.

"That's Kyle. He was the new guy before you came. ", Garfield indicated to the guy wearing the glowing green ring on his middle finger. Kyle flashed her a warm smile as he approached them, digging his hands into the pockets of his brwon cargo pants.

"And that's Damian, Batman's son. I gotta warn ya. The guy's pretty serious. Too serious at times if ya ask me. ", Garfield whispered with his hand shielding his mouth from Damian's view as nodded towards the Robin, Damian as he approached them.

So that's why she thought he resembled Bruce Wayne. He was the dark knight's son. He even had the guy's rather serious and stiff air around him.

"Hope you don't end up being a loose end to the team, Kara Zor-El. ", Damian said, shaking her hand in a very stiff manner.

Kara cocked her eyebrows at him. "How did you know my last name? Even I didn't know it until over a month ago. "., she inquired, choosing to gloss over the rude way Damian had just introduced himself.

Damian chose not to answer and stalked off to a ivy painted door labelled ' _combat room_ ' . Whether he meant to or not, Damian Wayne came off as a very rude character to her and Kara got the point to stay clear of the guy. Jaime seemed to pick up on what she was thinking as he chuckled. "Don't 'll warm up to ya slowly. It takes time for him to trust a person. And the guy's not a total douche... Not after I nearly fired his face off anyway. ", he said, earning him a shocked expression from Kara.

"Long story. I'll tell ya another time. ", he added quickly.

"Oh, And you got one more team member to meet, though I doubt you'll be seeing him any time lately. Bart Allen. Fast . I mean, really fast. Kid-flash, he calls himself. Bart can get on your nerves sometimes, but you'll grow to like him. He's gone on some top secret mission with Nightwing and Cybrog, playing in as the real Flash's substitute. ", Kyle remarked.

But before Kara could say anything further, Garfield interjected enthusiastically with a big grin on his face.

" Come on! You're just in time for training. Let's see what ya got!", Garfield chimed in, grabbing her around her wrist and yanking her forward while Kyle and Raven followed behind, with raised eyebrows.

* * *

The combat training facility, as it just so happened, was a new addition to the titans tower after the old training facility had been demolished during a brief scuffle the team had with a brain washed justice league.

It was a wide rhombus shaped arena that was at least seven times the size of the entire campus of the orphanage Kara had grown up in. It had highly sophisticated machinery and computer systems mounted on waist length podiums near the entrance. It had cool air conditioning and most of the floors and walls were lined with a material of tiles Kara had never seen before. It looked glassy enough to look like an LED screen, but it looked opaque enough to not be one too. It was like nothing Kara had ever seen before.

There were sliding compartments on the left wing of the room which were lined with long razor sharp swords (no doubt belonging to Damian) , encased in what appeared to be bullet proof fiber glass. There was also a giant OLED curved telecom screen of sorts at the top edge of the north wall, overseeing the entire room. Standing at the entrance, she felt slightly enthralled ,excited and pumped up at the same time.

"So? Whadja think?", Garfield asked with a proud grin. It was already clear what Kara thought, based on the amazed expression on her face.

Taking everyone by surprise, Kara grasped Garfield by the neckline of his body suit and yanked him towards her face, an excited look on her face. "WHAT DO I THINK? THIS PLACE LOOKS AMAZING!", she roared, excited to actually test out her new powers in full .

Back in Clark's apartment, her options were very limited as to what sort of experiments she could try and do with her powers, but now, she did not need to care about blowing down any doors .

"Glad you liked it. ", Kori's voice said as she walked up behind them, flashing Kara a bright smile. "This is where we test our strengths and develop new combat strategies and maneuvers. Thanks to Kyle over here, who used to be in the military cadets, I think we've improved our strategies and team tactics. ", Kori remarked, nodding to Kyle, who chuckled nonchalantly.

"So.", Kori gasped, clapping her hands together, a sudden excited spark flickering through her green eyes. "Let's get started shall we?", she inquired cheerfully as Kara shrugged , unsure of what she was supposed to say as a reply.

"Jaime? Why don't you show Kara what we're supposed to do first before we let her have a go?", Kori asked, turning to Jaime, who was bickering with Garfield about something. They instantly dropped their argument and he nodded innocently.

"Sure. ".

* * *

Kara was certainly amazed at how cool Jaime's blue beetle armor actually was. He had even got to the point where he was boasting that he hadn't even reached the bug's full potential yet, even though Kara found that hard to believe.

After he left all six of the replaceable dummy bots out of commission, Jaime walked over with a smug expression on his face, which Kara was more than looking forward to beat as she stepped forward, shaking her hands and calming herself.

She got into place and cracked her neck, just as Kyle shouted out to her from his position at the control unit.

"ARE YOU READY?!". Kara nodded and shifted one foot back, ready to pounce in on the action with a determined look on her face.

"Let's do this!", she remarked, nodding and slamming her fist into her open palm out in front of her to show how aggressive she was.

The moment Kyle pressed down on the release switch, Kara rushed forward, zipping into a blur that was too fast for anyone to see, almost rivaling the flash's own speed .

But unfortunately, she still lacked complete control over her new found powers and she zipped forward too far and too fast, completely missing the combat field, crashing straight into the platinum wall on the other side.

It managed to hold on despite the force with which she had rushed forward , with only a dent clearly visible as a result of her collision. The combat dummy bots that had been switched on rushed forward, wielding their blades and brandishing their unarmed blasters .

Kara grit her teeth,determined to have a good first impression on the people she was supposed to live with from on, so that things would be different from how it was back in the orphanage, where she used to be singled out most of the time.

She burst forward again and this time, she did manage to stop short of crashing into the wall nearby, but she wasn't adept enough to see where she was going at such a high speed and ended up crashing into two of the bots,completely demolishing them, tripping over and smacking face-first into the ground, which, much to everyone's amazement, had very small dent in it, where her nose had impacted it.

"Damn it. ", Kara muttered as she lifted herself off the floor, feeling no pain on her nose .

Clark had taught Kara reasonably well on how to control her powers but unfortunately, he had not, however, taught her how to control it on an offensive aspect. Meaning, she knew how to throw a lethal bone shattering punch, but she was either too fast and completely missed her target, or she tried controlling it too much to the point where it was too slow.

That was exactly what happened when seven more battle bots dropped down from the carriers to increase difficulty and bore down on her.

She mustered all her strength and punched out ferociously , but ended up missing the bots completely on more than one occasion because of her speed.

The others watched as she grasped and threw some bots before more converged on her and began firing lazers at her. Soon enough, they heard her roar out in frustration and Kyle noticed a crimson beam erupting from the center of the horde of bots and thrust his fist forward as his emerald ring began to glow.

A second later, the whole room was engulfed in crimson light as a concentrated beam shot out from Kara's position amongst the many bots and blasted the bots back, crashing into the walls with enough force to dent them. The beam from Kara's eyes traveled further and cut right through the rectangular droid storage system that was located on the ceiling, slicing right through it , leaving a molten cut of oozing metal in it's wake.

As the beam had erupted, a transparent green force field blast out of Kyle's glowing ring and encircled the team and the main control unit, keeping them safe from possible harm. as Kyle's own eyes began to glow pearly white.

A few prolonged moments of roaring later, the beam vanished as suddenly as it had appeared and the group saw a distressed and panting Kara standing in the center of the room, her shoulders rising and falling as her anger began to wear off as her eyes took in the destruction her unstable emotions had caused.

The team slowly edged forward as the force field Kyle had created around them vanished . The bots were all lying sprawled on the floor, many feet away from where Kara was standing , with plumes of smoke wafting up from the gaping holes or missing heads due to Kara's uncontrolled lazer beam.

"That was...Uh...", Jaime began, unsure of whether to be scared of that much power and her lack of ability to control it, or rejoice at the fact that he had such a powerful teammate.

Seeing the indecision on their faces, Kara had already summed up the worst as she bit her lip. She had been afraid of people reacting like this , as if she was some monster, the day she had found out about her latent powers.

Kori sighed and walked forward but before any words were exchanged, there was a blur of blonde and at the next moment, Kara had vanished from the room, where to, no one knew.

"Uh...so when're you planning to call your dad about the damage she just caused?", Garfield spoke up, until he received a death glare from Damian.

* * *

"Yeah. So.. I was thinking a.. dinner at the bistro? Just you and me? No capes or tights or scowling billionaires. ", Clark chuckled with the phone pressed between his cheek and shoulder as he sorted out his papers on his desk . He then turned to signal to Lois about Perry white wanting to talk with her about something before he returned to his papers.

It was nearing the end of the work day and Clark was prepping his office, ready to leave the Daily Planet building before the rush hour started. His colleagues were already rushing out the doors, grabbing their coffee cups and slinging their bags over their shoulders.

" _That sound nice. But.. what about your sister?",_ Diana's vice buzzed out from the other end of the conversation.

Clark placed the papers down and held the phone to his ear with his hand now.

"Kara? I dropped her off at the Titan's tower earlier. God knows whether or not she's driving Kori up the wall already. And Dick's not in house, off with Cyborg on some mission Bruce gave them, so Kori's probably got her hands full right now. ", Clark replied.

" _Hmmm.. She's quite the girl isn't she? Your sister? Her enthusiasm and strength reminds me very much of my kin and she would've made a valuable warrior._ ", Diana admitted.

/

"Anyway... Should I come pick you up or the other way around?", Diana chuckled as she combed her hair, sitting in front of her dressing table, judging different hairstyles by flipping her hair in various directions whilst sitting bare in her undergarments.

/

"No. I'd rather not look like a prissy impolite idiot in front of my neighbors , having my woman pick me up. ", Clark chuckled as he slung his bag over himself and waving at Perry simultaneously.

"So , I'll be there by eight?", Clark asked as he entered the elevator with the others.

" _That sound's nice_. ", Diana's voice buzzed out . " _I'll see you soon. Bye. "._

 _"_ Bye. ",Clark repeated before the call was cut.

The conversation ended and Clark placed his phone back into his pocket, sighing in contentment that he was having a proper date with Diana again after so long.

He hadn't gotten a proper opportunity with Kara under his care the past month. And the month before that she was busy with Shazam and Bruce on some case in Greece. With a smile on his face, Clark walked out the elevator to get ready for his date.

* * *

The cool incandescent light of the full moon bathed the lands in it's glow, lighting up the lands that would otherwise have been dark. It was an hour past midnight and nothing moved, besides the nocturnal animals that came out to scavenge. The only sound outdoors was the soft sound of the waves crashing onto the rocks surrounding Titan's towers.

The tower itself was mostly quiet . The light around the place was dimmed down and the only active noise in the hallways was the muffled sound of laughter as Garfield and Kyle were deeply engrossed in their third hour of world of warcraft.

Incoherent snores could be heard from Jaime's room and the sound of quick footsteps and the soft sound of sword slashing through the air told Kara that Damian was probably practicing his sword forms in his room.

There was a soft thump as Kara landed as softly as she could onto the paved ground floor, rolling forward to reduce the impact of her drop from over thirteen storeys high. The impact wouldn't have hurt her anyway, but she didn't want to alert the others that she was slipping out for the night.

During her time in Clark's apartment, she was only allowed outside as long as Clark accompanied her. Her cousin was too polite to say it, but Kara knew that this was because they didn't trust her enough to have full control of her powers. Clark was basically an insurance for the others so that Kara didn't end up hurting anyone unintentionally.

But tonight was different. Tonight was the first time she was actually going out alone to explore the city. Besides, going out would help clear her mind of the infuriating first training session she had experienced a few hours earlier. She had ended up destroying half of the room .

She sprinted forward as slowly as she could and gathered enough force into her legs and shot herself skyward, far over the tower wall , crashing way off course from where she had intended to land.

But it didn't matter. She had already put about fifty feet between her and the other titans.

Dusting the dirt off her cropped sleeveless blue hoodie, she burst forward, faster than a speeding bullet, a blur of blonde in the black of night, zipping forward through the cold night air towards the night lights of Metropolis in the distance.

* * *

Kara couldn't believe that Clark had never taken her out at what she had experienced so far, she loved it!

Even at her newly tapped super speed, it had taken Kara nearly seven minutes to reach Metropolis all the way from San Francisco. She could explore that place later, since it was practically on the titan's doorstep.

The city nightlife was bustling with people from all walks of life mingling with each other, walking the same beaten path, going about their agendas. It was definitely new from what Kara had been used to back in Central city.

Bright neon lights flashed on the sign boards on the pathways, attracting flocks of pedestrians into the cafes and pubs that lined the streets. The air was never silent as it was thick with the noise of honking cars and yelling police men, along with the added bonus of the giant telescreen that lit up the town square.

People were also very diverse in many senses.

There were the regular folks , the families and the dating teenagers in plenty, out for a night dinner or movie. There were many expatriates from countries Kara didn't even know existed. But there were also the unsavory lot, like the ruffians and thugs with their ridiculously outrageous hairstyles and the obscene art they wore proudly on their shirts. On more than one occasion, Kara was sure she had seen a shirt which depicted Clark, or rather, superman, sticking his fist up the mayor's butt.

Kara was one of the many pouring out from the movie theater hall, her hand dug deep into the pockets on her jacket to keep them from freezing off. She may have Superman's powers, but immunity to subzero temperatures was not one of them, from the looks of it.

Her breath fogged up the air in front of her as she looked around and began walking eastward, breaking away from the herd.

It had been over three hours now since she had slipped away from the titan's tower and she was positively sure that they had all gone to sleep. And she may not be able to fly yet, but her speed and jumping force was almost on par with Superman himself, if she did say so herself.

Teeth chattering in the brisk air, she waited for the streetlight to turn green before she walked forward with the others, one speck in a huge horde of pedestrians.

All of a sudden, a piercing shriek of noises and voices bombarded Kara's ear drums, making her jaw tighten and scrunch her nose as she tried to shrug it off and walk. If this over a month ago, she would have freaked at having to involuntarily listen in on he conversations and noises of people from halfway across the , the first time she had experienced it, she had thought she was going crazy or something.

But now, she had grown more accustomed to it was began concentrating hard, applying what Clark had taught her, trying to shut out those voices. But just before the voices in her ears were extinguished, she picked up the distinct vibrations of what sounded like cold frost and the sound of grown men screaming before their voices were extinguished and a noise like shattering glass was heard through the air.

The temperature around them began to drop drastically , colder than what it was just a few minutes ago and she looked down to see the pathway icing up in a thin , shiny layer of glassy ice .She looked left and her eyes widened as she saw the twelve foot bronze doors of the Metropolis city bank freeze with shards of ice creeping out of it's edges, jutting out dangerously.

Then, a second later, there was a loud and resounding explosion and the doors blasted off their hinges, crashing into the ground with a dull crack as people began to scream and scatter, bolting in different direction, anywhere but towards the bank.

Kara held her breath and watched as two dark silhouettes emerged from the yellow light from within the bank, shrouded in the plume of smoke rising from the blasted ice.

It looked like a lady, a very , very cold looking lady, with short, shoulder length , bluish, spiky hair and a rather lanky looking man with auburn hair and bushy sideburns that accentuated the elongated look of his face. He also seemed to be holding what seemed to be a sharp edged boomerang for some reason.

' _Oh boy_ ', Kara sighed inwardly.

* * *

 **That's all folks! I'll put up the next chapter as soon as I can! And thank you for all the reviews and suggestion so far! Keep em comin! And the Kyle in the chapter , if you've not already guessed, is an OC version of Kyle Rayner, one of the green lanterns. Anyways, see ya till next time!**


	4. Chapter 4 - Premonitions

**A/N** : Hey guys! Thanks for all the comments and all the suggestions! It really helps! And thanks for all the views! I've made this chapter longer than my previous two, since I won't be able to write a new one for at least another month since I've got my exams coming up. But I will upload a new one as soon as I'm done! As usual, Please comment and leave any suggestions ! Enjoy !

* * *

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Four -Premonitions**

The man wore a dark navy blue , thick trench coat that hung around his legs , shielding the torn pants he was wearing from view. He also seemed to be wearing a dark strap that was slung over his shoulder diagonally, and it had four extra identical boomerangs inserted into it's loops.

He had a very elongated , crooked nose that matched the receding hairline on his head and the lines and wrinkles on his face implied that he wasn't your average young had a cyan blue scarf wrapped around his neck and generally, had a very unlikable essence about whole body, from his protruding head to his knobbly knees did, however, give off the impression that he was a man that was unlikely to keep his promises .

The woman, however, was letting the guy with the boomerang (whom Kara later recognized as Captain Boomerang) do all the work.

She simply stood there, with a bored expression on her face and a small smile playing around the edges of her dark lips. Her dark blue irises traveled the scattering crowd, as if enjoying the intimidating power she possessed over them.

She wore a tight fitting costume that wrapped closely around her body, with the neckline fastened tightly around her throat, rather like a choker. The rest of her navy blue costume exposed her pale white arms via sleeveless partitions , and exposed her thighs, which were also icy white in color. She wore matching arm warmers that had white furry edges , which emphasized her cold attitude.

As Kara watched, frozen in place, cop cars rounded the curve and screeched to a halt in front of the bank with their lights flickering and sirens whirring.

"FREEZE!", one of the cops yelled, a hint of fear in his voice, as he, along with his colleagues, rushed forward, pistols aimed and ready .

At the man's scream, the icy woman chuckled tauntingly and dropped the black bag she had slung over her shoulder.

"That's exactly what I had in mind, Officers. ", she remarked coolly as she walked forward.

Before the officers had any time to decipher her cryptic leer, she thrust her arms forward, palms wide open and as she did so, and ice materialized out of thin air ,shooting towards the unsuspecting officers, engulfing them.

Kara and the other cowering bystanders watched as the ice engulfed the officers whole, freezing them on the spot like sculpted statues, encasing them in spirals of ice.

Nobody else dared to walk forward and Captain Boomerang sneered at his partner.

"I coulda done tha meself.", he proclaimed with a thick, distinctly Australian accent . He picked up two out of three bags stuffed, no doubt, with loads of cash and stuffed his boomerang back into it's slot.

"Keep telling yourself that, Captain Kangaroo.", the icy woman rebuffed coolly as she picked up the third bag.

Kara bit her lip and glanced around. There seemed to be no more police cars in sight anymore. She could just walk out and leave the place. After all, these two hadn't killed anyone. But then again, she just couldn't let these guys get away like that. It's not what other people thought, but she wouldn't be able to sleep right that night, if she knew she had let these two get away . Who knows how many people they may harm later on?

But she couldn't just do it in plain sight. She needed something to hide her face from view while she dealt with these two.

She gritted her teeth and glanced around. A soft gasp escaped her s she caught sight of something and zipped towards it in a blur, unnoticed by anyone as Captain Boomerang and Killer Frost trudged down the stairs, bickering.

* * *

"Hey! Drop those bags right there and walk away and I'll let you live!", a female voice echoed through the air, catching everyone by surprise , even the two bickering villains.

As they finally found the source of the voice, both of them exchanged stupefied expressions before they burst out laughing.

It was girl , a young one, by the looks of it. She wore baggy, grey cargo pants inserted into brown sneakers she was wearing, with it's rim extending just over three inches above her ankle.

Her arms were slightly muscular for her age and it was exposed through the sleeveless blue hoodie she was wearing with it's hood drawn up, shrouding her facial features from view. Not that her face needed anymore concealing anyway. The girl had a Chinese , crimson dragon mask fitted over her face, revealing nothing but her azure blue eyes to the viewers. She had a very taunt air around her, with black sweat armbands wrapped around her wrist as she stood, her hips cocked and her hands placed on them.

"Look. We get that you're playing cosplay,kid, but unless you wanna end up in a hospital , ya might wanna get the hell outta the way. ", Killer frost remarked in a humorous tone , clearly not taking this person seriously.

"You're the only ones who're gonna need a hospital after I'm done with you. And for your sake,", the mysterious girl retorted, slamming her right fist into the palm of her other hand , "I hope there's one nearby. ".

This unabashed rebuttal clearly struck a nerve with boomerang , as he growled and whipped out a boomerang from his precious stack, hurling it forward , dangerously fast at the girl, who didn't even seem to be flinching, much to the confusion of the bystanders.

When the razor tip of the boomerang was barely an inch away from the girl's face, everyone watched in shock as her hand shot up in the fraction of a second and the next thing they knew, her palm was firmly wrapped around the boomerang .

Then, they all watched with jaws dropping as the girl , without even so much of a struggle, pressed onto the weapon and shattered it into two with her hands, as if it was some twig.

"Bloody hell..", Captain Boomerang gasped in shock and disbelief as his screwed up, aghast as the girl cracked her knuckles,as if this was some game.

"Got any more of your toys, Digger?", Killer frost muttered as she dropped her bag down and prepped herself for offense.

With a rapid swirling motion, she shot razor sharp icicles at the mystery girl, and , much to everyone's shock , the girl still seemed unfazed and simply began walking forward with an arrogant chuckle as the icicles shattered upon contact with her body.

"Is that all ya got, Frostie?", the masked girl taunted as Killer Frost kept bombarding her with icicles, one after the other, trying to hurt her to no avail.

Angered, Killer Frost dropped her icy attacks and pulled down the strap across her chest, which had seemed to be carrying some hidden object for a while now. The masked girl focused hard and used her X-ray vision and saw the heavy artillery rifle even before Killer Frost revealed it.

"One of Mister Freeze's trademark Ice blasters. Let's see how you fare against this bad boy.", the icy woman remarked with an alluring tone , as she charged the containment with Ice from her own touch.

Not a second later, she pulled down on the trigger and shot out a steady icy stream right at the girl's chest, which met her head on, pushing her back slightly, though she didn't get blasted off her feet as Frost had expected.

/

The blast didn't pain Kara, as she had expected, leaving nothing, not even a bruise. A misty cloud of air exited her mouth, fogging up the inside of her mask as she smirked confidently.

"That tickled. ", she taunted, cracking her neck muscles to warm them up, snickering inwardly as she saw the panicking faces of boomerang and Frost.

With a grin plastered on her face, being able to fight wrongdoers without fear for the first time in her life, Kara slowly picked up the pace , her fists raising and then, in a burst of speed, she zipped forward and punched Frost across her jaw with just enough restraint to feel like a normal human punch, knocking her off her feet and into the wall behind them.

Feeling victorious, she cracked her knuckles and advanced toward captain boomerang, who was now cowering after seeing what Kara had done to Frost "What the hell are ya?", he squeaked as he scampered backwards to grasp at his one last remaining boomerang.

But then, all of a sudden, the ground beneath them began to tremble violently and the tar road they were standing on began to crumble and crack, jagged edges jutting out as it explored the pavement, just seconds before it would give way and explode.

The people held their breath in terror and began edging away from the fight scene as Kara and Captain boomerang stood, confused as to what was happening , until a soft laughter was heard from the direction of Killer Frost.

Looking in her direction, Kara saw the Ice woman wipe the small bruise across her lower lip and get up, stretching out her back , as if entirely relaxed.

"Did you really think that I'd rely on captain Kangaroo here ? I've got a chilling surprise for you, bitch! ", Frost remarked just before there was a deafening noise from below Kara and she involuntarily forgot to rely on her super hearing.

This lack of common sense resulted in her getting struck off her feet from a very coarse looking mammoth of an arm that blast out of the crack of the pavement. Due to the force of the punch, and due to the fact that she hadn't been expecting it, Kara was blasted off her feet and onto the road a few feet away, rolling down, grunting as she picked herself up.

Not a second later, an seven foot tall gargantuan of a man burst out from beneath the road ways, cracking it open in half as he clambered to the surface.

As the dust and smoke cleared, the behemoth loomed into view, making even Kara gasp at his sheer size as she picked herself off her feet.

His boulder-like shoulders were twice the size of Kara's own torso and his big, almost rocky-looking forearms emphasized his rugged appearance. His long, matted, shoulder length brown hair billowed in the wind as he bared his teeth and growled at Kara.

The yellow shirt that hung over his body was barely managing to hold on under the stress of his massive and muscly body, torn in various areas, giving him a more violent look. But from the youthful look in his crimson eyes that were glaring at Kara, she could tell that his true age was not as old as his body. It was his ability of some sort, to age up in appearance and in strength, leading her to come to the conclusion that he was probably a meta-human.

His chest rose and fell ,like a raging rhino, raring to charge, his veins popping as Killer frost reappeared beside the behemoth , with Captain Boomerang scampering a slight ways apart, appearing as weary eyed as everyone else was. Kara came to the conclusion that he probably didn't know about Killer Frost's accomplice. Funny, even when working together, these guys don't let their partners in on their secrets.

" Not so cocky now, are ya?", Frost taunted as she placed the freeze blaster on her shoulder,relaxed. As Kara stayed silent, still aghast at this new intruder's size and bulking figure, Killer Frost swung the bag of cash over her shoulder and flashed a seductive smile at the gargantuan.

"Boulder, I want you to smash that little wrench's head in for me. ", she asked , stroking his arm softly, as if enticing him.

A grin flashed across his face, exposing his grotesque and rather repulsive teeth before he locked his eyes on Kara and and charged forward , like a rampaging rhino.

With a mighty roar, he brought his fists down onto the pavement , cracking it open as people began to lose control and began scattering, screaming. He then proceeded to rip chunks of concrete out of the ground and hurled it at Kara, which she punched straight through, trusting her abilities , crumbling it to dust.

As she was busy demolishing the concrete being hurled at her, she lost concentration and did not notice the gargantuan charging straight at her.

A gasp of shock escaped her just moments before she caught sight of him, and then his fist met her squarely in the chest, blasting her off her feet, crashing into the wall of a nearby convenience store, rendering it derelict immediately.

"Since when did yeu sta' makin buddies with psycos in da slammer?", boomerang inquired with an irritated voce as he drew near to Killer frost, who was watching the gargantuan hammer the mystery girl .

"A girl's got her ways, Digger. ", she said coolly.

/

With a disoriented groan, Kara picked herself out of the rubble and onto her feet, massaging her chest where she had been struck. She thought she would've broken a few bones from such a hit or something. But nothing. Not even a bruise. All she felt was a numb sensation where the thing had punched her.

Speaking of, she looked up to see the gargantuan cracking it's neck, ready for another round as a maniacal leer spread across his face.

As it charged at her, a glorious thought entered her mind. So far, the only person strong enough to take on her full force had been her cousin and so, she had had to suppress her true strength, with no leway to test herself out. This presented the perfect opportunity for her to not hold back anymore. She was certain that his thing could face her strength head on.

With an exhilarated grin, she burst forward and punched the creature, staggering it back a few steps before it growled and threw a pair of punches at her, which she evaded with ease , before both of them locked hands and began pushing hard at each other using their full strength, glaring into each other's faces.

What had begun as a simple bank robbery had now evolved into a full on fight between two being with superhuman strengths, neither of them backing down.

* * *

"Today was nice. ", Diana remarked as she and Clark walked silently back to his apartment.

He smiled and nodded at her. It had been a good date so far. No hiccups, no goofups. And more importantly, no call or emergency alert from Bruce, Hal or the green Manhunter, their newest recruit, who were all up in the watchtower.

Diana inserted her hand through the loop of Clark's arm that was tucked into the front pocket of his jacket. He looked at her, cockeyed at this sudden gesture but grinned as she flashed him a smirk and they kept walking.

"So what did you think of the Bistro? The owner and I go way back. She was the first person I actually ended up liking when I first moved here. ", Clark inquired as they rounded a corner, nearly barging into a woman who was chasing after her two hyperactive twin boys.

"The place was nice. I really loved the pastries they served though..I do think they could do better with their reduced number of male emp-", Diana drifted off, noticing that Clark was not beside her and he wasn't listening. Turning around, she spotted him staring at what appeared to be a glass pane with a look of irritation and anger written clearly on his face.

"Clark?", she whispered as she drew closer to him.

When he still didn't respond, she looked at what he was looking at. It was a window television. Or a dozen mini ones, however one counted it. The new channel was tuned on and Diana recognized Lois Lane standing in front of what appeared to be the Metropolis city bank. But there seemed to be people running in different directions.

" _\- and we are live here, in what appears to have been an attempt at a bank robbery by two out of three of the recognized criminals on the spot here, Killer Frost and Captain Boomerang. And there seems to be a third accomplice here, but so far, he hasn't matched any descriptions and it is impossible to define who this character is or how he entered the sewer systems underground. ",_ Lois was yelling over the screams of the civilians as a monstrous roar echoed behind her.

" _-But what really has everyone's interest here is the masked vigilante, a female, who has managed to hold off the robbery on her own and seems to be engaged with the criminals. There is no identification of who this person is , but witnesses claim to have seen the woman take the monstrous creature head on, a fear achievable by only a select few. The descriptions of the woman does not match any of the members of the Justice league either, as per latest reports, so the question remains, Who is she? ",_ Lois continued and as she did so, there was a painful roar from the creature that was out of the camera's view and a burst of crimson light could be seen in the back ground.

" _What the._.", they heard a male teenager's voice mutter, probably the cameraman.

" _Quick, Jimmy, get the shot!",_ Lois could be heard through the din as her cameraman fought with the scattering crowd and gain a stable focus , zooming in on the fight between the grey skinned gargantuan of a creature. And fighting it appeared to be girl with blond hair,and wearing a black head band that looked eerily familiar to Diana.

Then, as the sudden realization hit her, a shocked gasp escaped her .

"Clark , isn't that-", she began but as she turned right, she felt the blast of air against her face and the next thing she knew, Superman was already gone.

* * *

Kara bounded forward and leapt into the air before roaring and swinging her fist around. She punched the gargantuan squarely on his jaw, sending him crashing straight into the police cars that had just screeched to a halt at the scene. Luckily enough, the officers had the presence of mind to jump out of their vehicles just in time, although the vehicles were now damaged beyond repair, with fumes rising up and the glass and chasis shattered .

But Kara didn't notice this. She didn't notice any of the destruction their fight was causing to the structures nearby. All she could feel was the exhilaration of not having to hold back her power. She was channeling all the hatred she had toward people who hurt her throughout her life and focused it all on the Gargantuan getting clobbered by her fists.

All of a sudden, the gargantuan caught the sixteen year old by surprise and wrapped his gigantic palms around her torso, encasing her in it in a bone crunching grip . He then hurled her across , crashing her into the tar road, forming a small crater due to impact, nearly missing a car driving by as it swerved off the road to avoid her.

/

"I thought yeu said this thing could take on superman . It's not even able to take on this bitch!", Boomerang whispered hotly to Killer Frost, who shot him an icy glare, intimidating him into backing off.

/

"All right. You wanna play hard ? . ", Kara breathed as her temper flared from behind her mask and bolted forward at human did not think tactically or anything, opting to rather burst into the scene and take on her opposition head on.

Before the Gargantuan could react, due to his slowed down reflex nerves, Kara was already pummeling him with punches left and right as news broadcasters attempted to get a good coverage of the fight.

Six punches in, Kara roared , recoiling her fist before jumping up and punching squarely on the chin. She had already lost control of her powers, involuntarily shooting out lazer beams on two occasions, narrowly missing innocent civilians. She had to end this.

Slipping behind him, Kara grabbed him by the back of his shoulder and his pants and hoisted him up above her head as everyone watched with shocked eyes. She then hurled him skyward with such force that he was thrown at least fifty feet into the air, merely a speck to the human eye.

Kara then squatted down before using the tension from her leg muscles to shoot herself off the ground and into the air. She was rising and rising, almost flying, until she was at his level.

With a strained roar , she clasped her hands together and brought them down onto the gargantuan's chest area, knocking the very air out of him upon contact and sent him plummeting back down to earth at a rapid velocity where he, almost three seconds later, crashed head first, into a small crater right in the middle of the street.

As Kara landed with a resounding and tar cracking crunch on the ground closeby, the gargantuan groaned in defeat and rolled over, hair sprawled in random directions across his face, unconscious .

As it did so, the thing miraculously began to shrink down in size, right before their very eyes . Everyone watched, amazed when the huge gargantuan shrunk back down to the body of a twelve year old red head boy with scars lining his body and face.

It... was a kid... Kara felt slightly sick ..That was a horrible power to have, needless to say, Kara didn't know what the boy had committed to end up in the slammer.

Just then, there was a yell as random by standers were shoved out of the way , including Boomerang, as Frost made to sprint away, leaving her partner for the cops.

"Oh no you DON'T!", Kara yelled and zipped forward, covering up the distance between her and frost in a matter of a second and stopped right in front of Frost, sending the ice woman reeling backwards in shock as Kara grabbed her by the collar of her costume and swung her over like a baseball pitcher did to a ball, sending her crashing into a police car.

Slowly, the cowering civilians, those who were brave enough to stand and watch the entire brawl anyway, began creeping out from their hiding places, their faces unreadable as all the news cameras rolled and focused on the figure of the masked Kara, with her blonde hair billowing in the cold winds.

"I caught the bad guys, Officer!", Kara proclaimed proudly, crossing her hands proudly across her chest. After all, this was a big achievement, for it was the first time Kara had used her powers to stop criminals.

Slowly, the Captain edged forward, eyeing the groaning figures of Killer Frost and the unmoving figure of the little boy, who was the gargantuan. Seeing that he was safe, the middle aged Latino man stood up straight and adjusted his hat.

"Right. ", he turned to his subordinates , "Arrest them!", he ordered and they all hurried forward, cuffing the disoriented Killer Frost. As Kara watched , proud of her work, the Captain shocked her by pointing at her and taking his own set of cuffs out.

"You're under arrest too. ", he simply stated and moved to cuff her, but she resisted, stepping back with an outraged expression on her face that was hidden from view behind the mask.

"WHAT!?",she scoffed in disbelief . "THOSE are the bad guys! They were robbing the bank! I was trying to help!", she defended herself, almost on the verge of literally knocking some sense into this captain.

"Yeah. But you caused a lot more damage to public property in the process now didn't you?", he retorted , gesturing to the sight that had been left in the wake of Kara's brief brawl with the gargantuan.

And if she was being honest with herself, she had to agree that it was a complete mess.

The roads and walkways were cracked open, split right down the middle from the sewers where the gargantuan came from. Smoke trailed from various points where her heat vision had accidentally struck when she had momentarily lost control;buildings had missing parts to them where they had been broken off due to impacts during the fight.

Street lamps were brought down , shards of ice and water decked various areas, cop cars were turned over while some were completely ripped in half when the creature had used them as shields to protect itself from Kara's heat vision and there was a medium sized crater right in the middle of the street where Kara had sent the gargantuan crashing down.

"Now you have the right to remain sil-", the captain began, making to grab Kara's wrist while she moved out of the just in time.

"NO! PLEASE! I can explain! I was just trying to help you guys. I-I'm new to this superhero business ! You have to under-", Kara pleaded, forgetting for a second that she could just leap away and no one would be able to follow her.

"You can explain all you want down at the station. ", the captain retorted emotionlessly .

Elsewhere, Captain Boomerang was quietly backing away with his bag, tip toeing backwards under all the confusion until his back hit a block that he could not push out of the way. Turning around, he was met with the stern glare of a certain blue eyed amazonian warrior. "Aww crap.".

/

As Kara opened her mouth to argue further, a familiar voice interrupted their scuffle, a voice the police knew all too well.

"Captain."

Looking up, everyone caught sight of the familiar 'S' logo embossed on his chest as the man of steel slowly descended from the sky before softly landing next to Kara and the cousin.

"Superman? I-", the captain began before Superman cut across him .

"I am sorry for all the trouble our new recruit has caused. She was not supposed to go in unsupervised. The league will repay for all the damage that has been caused today. ", Superman said going straight to the point, leaving the man all flustered and at a loss for words. It was not everyday that Superman apologized to you. Kara might have even laughed...if this was any other time.

As they stood around, there was a male voice yelling and a second later, the figure of captain boomerang was flung across the air , crashing into one of the police cars. A moment later, there was a wooshing noise and the next thing they know, Wonder woman was landing next to Kara with a smile.

Completely awestruck, the captain rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and stood back, his mustache quivering as he hid the cuffs out of view when he noticed wonder woman looking a it. He did not want to get on her wrong side, since she was said to be less understanding than Superman was.

"Uhh.. Um. Okay.. But next time please send an actual member of the league to deal with the issue, not some rookie. ", the officer said as Superman nodded as he placed a hand on Kara's wrist , ready to take off.

Superman and wonder woman flashed the people one last smile before soaring up into the sky and into the inky blackness of the night sky with the masked rookie girl in tow.

The captain turned back to the scene in his wake and took of his hat, scratching his bald head.

"Urgh.. the mayor's not gonna like this...".

* * *

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, KARA!? You could've killed someone today!", Clark yelled, seething with anger at his cousin's irresponsibility. He had an edge to his voice that hadn't gone unnoticed by Kara. It had been over thirty minutes since they had slowly begun flying above the blanket of clouds, towards San Francisco .

Kara lay on his back, her hands gripping his shoulder blades, leaving the sixteen year old girl slightly embarrassed by the fact that she was the only one out of the three of them who couldn't fly . Yet, anyway. Most of her powers were still forming by the day.

Wonder woman trailed the two cousin silently , a few ways away so as to give them a little space .

"I WAS TRYING TO HELP, OKAY?! I WAS TRYING TO DO THE RIGHT THING! In case you didn't notice, I stopped the bad guys from getting away!Because of me, those three yahoos are locked up and not driving around with pockets full of cash!", Kara yelled back hotly, losing her temper.

"And because of your lack of regard , you caused a lot more damage trying to take them down !", Clark yelled back, gritting his teeth. He loved his cousin sister and was beyond thrilled that he had a family member left with him , but honestly, she was getting on his nerves now.

"HEY! I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CONTROL MY POWERS OKAY? IT JUST ISN'T CLICKING LIKE YOU SAID IT WOULD, MR. PERFECT!",Kara bellowed, throwing her arms around wildly to emphasize her point before a shocked look spread across her face.

She lost balance and slipped off Clark's back clawing the air , plummeting a few feet down before she was caught again, this time by Diana, who held the sixteen year old by her side, flying back towards Clark's height. Both cousins were panting, Clark with an unreadable look and Kara with a mixture of anger and disbelief.

"At least she was trying to do the right thing. ", Diana added, flashing a small smile at Clark, who huffed at her before turning away.

"Maybe we all just need to be quiet for some time and enjoy the night . We should be almost there anyway. ", Diana whispered to Kara as the sixteen year old looked down to the bed of soft clouds below them as they flew on.

* * *

The Titan's tower was lit up bright and no one was asleep, despite the late hour that it was. The large 'T' shaped structure was a beacon of light in the otherwise dark surrounding landscape.

A lone figure hovered at the forefront of the tower, towards the top floors.

Kyle Rayner silently watched the night, his body outlined by a green incandescent glow in his lantern form, black and emerald suit and all.

His suit was aesthetically a bit different from Hal Jordan's with it having self built shoulder , elbow and knee pads ,and for a fact, his suit was tightly fitting and appeared more sleek on his lean body figure than Hal's suit . His uniform also differed from Hal's , since it had no white colors to it, like the white gloves Hal had.

The green tapered down his middle with the black strips running along his sides and along his bicep area . The only white color on his uniform was the lantern insignia, which was more to his right chest side instead of down the middle, like Hal's was.

But both variations of the costume had the emerald mask on the face as his glowing white eyes scanned the area, wary of any signs of movement.

Then , with a soft gasp, he saw it.

Three specs in the moonlight, descending from the bed of white clouds from the skies, flying towards the tower and Kyle could distinctly make out Superman's cape billowing in the wind behind him as two females trailed him.

Kyle shot back down into the tower to alert the others.

It had been a fright when Garfield had crept into Kara's bedroom earlier to wish her good night, only to find her room empty. They had feared that she had either been abducted or she had run away. And not to mention the fact that Kori had been really stressed out and pacing the hallways, while Damien was expressing his discontent at Kara for ditching the team.

Re-entering the main hall, everyone's face jerked up to him in union .

"She's back.. I think.. and Superman and Wonder woman are with her. ".

* * *

With a soft ' _thunk'_ , Superman, Wonder woman and Kara landed on the pavement , right at the front doors of the tower as familiar faces came rushing out, with slightly sleep deprived looks on their faces.

First came out Kyle, in his green lantern form before he switched it off , dropping to the floor just as Kori, Garfield and Jaime came rushing out, with Damian and Raven silently trailing the rear.

"Superman? Wonder woman? What-", Kori began before seeing the slightly shorter figure of Kara stand next to Wonder woman, her arms crossed across her chest and a scowl on her face.

"KARA! We were so worried about you? Why did you leave?", Kori inquired as she stood midstep unsure of what to do, catching the similar scowling expression on Superman's face.

"She went to metropolis and destroyed the fifth of broadway street , stopping attempted bank robbery by Captain Boomerang and Killer Frost. . ", Damian's voice remarked in it's usually precocious tone.

Everyone, including Kara, turned to him with surprised eyes as to how he knew this, only to see him holding up his holographic sequencer close to his face and they could clearly see the new flash headline that lit crimson on the top of the screen.

"What? Don't tell me I'm the only one who reads the news. ", Damian remarked nonchalantly, as if it was stupid not to know this, as he switched off the device and placed it back into the back pocket of his pants.

" Kid said it. ", Superman remarked, shifting his gaze back to Kori just as a frustrated growl startled them .

"Grnh. BUT I STOPPED THE ROBBERY AND THE YAHOOS WHO WERE DOING IT! WHY DO YOU PEOPLE ONLY FOCUS ON MY NEGATIVES!? FIRST THAT BOZO WITH THE BADGE AND NOW YOU ! ", Kara bellowed at her cousin, who was a little taken aback, as were everyone else at this outburst.

There was a moment of tense silence as everyone eyed Kara wearily as she panted heavily, an enraged and threatening expression on her face. Clark was actually surprised she didn't involuntarily shoot out a heat blast as she normally would have done if she lost her temper.

Wonder woman was he first to break the silence.

"Kara. Clam down. Nobody is-", she began, placing a hand on her shoulder , attempting to calm down the teenager but she swatted her hand away.

"EVERYBODY JUST EXPECTS ME TO BE PERFECT LIKE SUPERMAN! Well, I'M NOT SUPERMAN...Ya know what? I'm done for tonight. ", she said with a hiss and stomped off, shoving past the other titans who had blank expressions on their faces.

Clark sighed and tried to go after her but Diana caught his wrist and shook her head when he looked at her.

"Let's just give her some time. I think she did well, considering the fact that this was the first time she ever took on such criminals. ", Diana said, making Clark feel even worse about his over reaction without meaning to.

"I..I suppose you're right. ", he sighed before he began to levitate off the ground.

"Let me know when she comes around. ", he said to Kori , who nodded .

With a final nod to the rest of the titans, Superman and Wonder woman shot skywards, disappearing from view into the blanket of clouds.

"Well that was ...somethin.", Garfield muttered, scratching his head as the team stood around, still dazed by Kara's outburst.

* * *

 _What the hell did these people want?,_ Kara thought to herself, lying on her bed with her arms folded out behind her head. She lay there, staring up at the ceiling with brows furrowed in thought and anger. She didn't have any sleep that night and it was sunrise in three hours. But she didn't care. She didn't need it anyway.

If she hadn't stopped them, those yahoos would've gotten away with all that cash. And she doesn't even have full control over her powers yet. But does anyone thank her for her help ? No! All they saw was the 'collateral damage' she caused and how reckless she was . Hell, even Clark was infuriating ! She'd like to see him try to take on three villains all at once when he was just sixteen. Ha!

Honestly, the only person she felt actually seemed to appreciate her effort was Diana. Maybe she even dared to think she had more sense than her cousin brother did. Phooey!

Wasn't what she did the right thing to do? Or should she have just kept her trap shut and let the pros handle the situation?

* * *

Raven was silently walking towards her quarters, which was the only other room on this side of the corridor, being the girl's section. Kori had her own room closer to the ground floor. The lights dimmed back as she heard Garfield's door click shut on the other end of the corridor. This had proved to be an eventful twenty four hours so far.

It felt nice. Having another girl on the team. She didn't tell Kori, but she had grown slightly weary of being the only teenaged girl on the team. It was nice to have another girl her own age around.

As she shifted along pass Kara's door, she thought she heard a muffled yell of frustration coming from the other side of the door, as if the blonde sixteen year old was screaming into a pillow. Raven pursed her lips , contemplating her options. She could just go to sleep and just leave it at that. But as her new teammate, she ought to help Kara. She was part of her family now, after all.

* * *

As Kara stared at the black , platinum plated ceiling, with a pillow stuffed onto the lower half of her face, her super hearing clicked in and she heard footsteps approaching softly outside her door, moments before it knocked and clicked open to reveal the silhouette of a female.

"Well, You've got some temper issues.", a female voice spoke, which Kara recognized as Raven's.

At the comment, she cocked her eyebrows ans threw her a glare. Seeing the unamused look on her face, Raven hurriedly shook her head.

" I was joking.I meant no disrespect. ", she mumbled hurriedly, slightly scared at the sixteen year old would lose it again.

Kara shifted her gaze back to the ceiling.

"I know it was a joke. I'm just not in a very humorous mood right now. Nor am I looking to speak with anyone. ", she added coarsely, not sparing Raven a glance. She had had it with people not allowing her to test her abilities and reprimanding her when she did.

"Okay. Then I'll leave you to your sulking now. ", Raven said sarcastically, though showing no sense of humor in her voice.

As she opened the door, Kara shot upright, realizing she had been rude to someone who had done her no harm.

"Sorry. I didn't mean that. I just.. urgh...", she groaned, plonking back onto her bed with her arms sprawled out wide as Raven switched on the light.

When there was silence from Raven, Kara leaned up and cocked an eyebrow. "Aren't we having like a heart to heart, girl to girl talk or anything?", she asked with a sarcastic edge to her voice.

Raven's lips twitched into a small smug smile.

"Not really. I've had a really long day and wouldn't mind sleeping in for a few hours. And I don't do the heart to heart thing. You want that, you're gonna have to talk to Kori...But.. I came to tell you that I can sense that you can't control your powers because of your clogged up emotions. You're angry that you have to restrain yourself all the time . Your emotional aura is clouded and frustrated. And it may be interfering with your powers. And believe me. I know the wanna talk about power issues? My dad is the devil himself...", Raven said, going straight to the point.

When Kara said nothing, she continued on.

" Whenever you're want, I can show you what I know about controlling emotions and channeling powers. Maybe that'll help you gain better access to your full powers. ", she said in a monotone voice.

Kara pursed her lip and flitted her eyes left and right awkwardly. This was the first long conversation she had had with Raven so far and she was acting like a spiritual guru or something.

"Uh.. Okay. Yeah.. I'll...uh.. I'll get back to you on that. ", she said awkwardly.

"Goodnight. ", Raven simply said and yawned before she walked over to the door and opened it ready to leave before she paused, freezing in motion for a second, as if thinking about then turned to Kara again.

"Damian showed me the new report about the bank thinks you were completely clumsy and shouldn't have intervened. " she said in that same monotone paused for a second before continuing.

"But for the record, I think you had the good intentions and you trying to do the right thing. ", she said in that same monotone voice before she gave her a small smile before turning and leaving , shutting the door behind her, leaving Kara flustered and feeling strangely fuzzy.

She felt slightly less angry and misunderstood now.

* * *

"We will now practice direct physical attacks. No use of any objects around you in your spar. Garfield, why don't you sit this one out? Damian, you can spar with Jaime. Raven, you can spar with me . Kara, you can spar with Kyle. ", Kori said in a sweet tone.

Since Kara had involuntarily destroyed the titan's combat training modulations and training room, the team was outside in between the mountains , training with each other.

It had been four days since that incident in Metropolis and Kara had been actively avoiding calls from her cousin and pretended to take a shower whenever Superman dropped by. It's not that she hated him. But he did frustrate her with his lack of understanding. She thought it better to just avoid him till all her tension was cooled off.

Also, the press in Metropolis had named Kara as 'Power girl'. Well ... at least the masked mystery girl who stopped the robbery that night was called that anyway. Kara didn't like the name, however, since it sounded too cheesy for her liking.

As per agreement, Kara had been sitting with both Raven and Kori as they both had different methods of cooling down their minds so that they could use their powers. They both could fly and she did slip in a question as to how they did it, in the hopes that it could help her, but it was of no use. She understood none of what both of them said. At least in the aspect of her flight anyway.

Garfield whined at the pairing up, which meant the he would have to sit this one out and not get to spar with Kara, which he had really been looking forward to .

"Aw come on! Why can't Kyle sit this one out? He's a green lantern! He doesn't need sparring ! ", Garfield whined with a pleading look before dropping his gaze and muttering incoherently "And I was hoping to get some time with Kara.".

He thought no one heard him but he had completely forgotten that Kara , like superman, had super hearing and she cocked an eyebrow at him, which he didn't see. Kori walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder with a warm smile on her face.

"I do not wish to be off putting.. but I think that you would be too kind in your attacking prowess to Kara. And she needs as much training as she can get if she is to learn to control her powers. ", she said, with a knowing look on her face .

Behind her, Kyle and Jaime were snickering together, with a teasing look on their faces.

"Shut up!", Garfield warned, his green face blushing slightly.

"Oh brother..", Damian muttered, rolling his eyes.

As Kara turned to her sparring partner, he switched to his lantern mode and began hovering inches off the floor with a smug smile etched across his face.

"Finally. I've been holding back my full power for so long. Sure you can take a hit, Girl of steel?",he asked with a taunting smirk . Kara returned the smirk as she slammed her fist into the palm of her hand in a display of aggressiveness .

"Hmph. Bring it, chump.", she replied, beckoning him with a smirk.

The moment Garfield switched on the initiation option, there was a bang and all the titans(except for Garfield), rushed forward at their sparring partners.

* * *

Almost fifteen minutes later, all the titans were sitting on the ground, panting from the effort, except for Kara and Kyle, who had worn each other out to the point of panting, but not to the point where they were as exhausted as their spar between the two of them had gone on a bit longer than the others had.

"Not bad.", Kyle chuckled as Kara snorted, walking back to the others.

Their sparring match , which was a lot more devastating in power compared to the others, had taken the two a little while off from their starting point. To say the least, Kara felt exhilarated and she loved the warm feeling of the sunlight radiating on her skin and she already felt her energy rushing back.

"I see you are gaining more control over your abilities, Kara.", Kori chirped with a cheerful smile as the two drew nearer.

"Yeah. I've had a little help along the way.", Kara responded, wiping her sweat off her forehead whilst exchanging a knowing glance with Raven.

"You were amazing! And you almost beat him!", Garfield exclaimed, jumping forward to her, almost toppling her backwards.

"Hey,I didn't use my full power okay? Besides, it's just a sparring match.", Kyle remarked nonchalantly.

Before Garfield could say anything more to defend Kara,who was taking no interest in their little quarrel, Kori clapped her hands and drifted up, hovering above the floor.

"Okay! Excellent training session everyone!", she chirped , "Now who's ready for some good nourishing breakfast to strengthen our muscles and our bond as a family?".

Immediately, Kyle , Garfield and Jaime's hands shot up , while Raven and Damian, much less pompously. Seeing that Kara's hand remained down, everyone turned to look at her.

"I-I'm just gonna hang back here for a while.. If that's all right with you. ", Kara said , rubbing the back of her neck.

Seeing Kara's decision, Garfield also immediately switched his own opinion.

"Ya know what? I don't think I'm that hungry yet. I might need a run or two. Catch ya guys later!", he waved as Raven, Jaime and Kyle drifted upwards, joining Kori (with Kyle forming a glowing emerald platform under Damian's feet , lifting him along).

Jaime and Kyle cocked eyebrows and exchanged looks. They knew why Garfield had really switched.

"Okay. We will see you later!", Kori waved and all of them flew off.

Kara wiped her sweat onto her shirt, bent down and adjusted her sports sneaker as she tried to focus on her speed and lightweightedness. She wanted to do it. She wanted to fly today.

The moment the rest of the team was out of sight, Garfield strutted over to Kara, who was bent down, tying her shoelace . He cleared his throat with what he thought was an attractive smile.

"So! Kara. You and me. Me and you. Two _alone_ people here. You know. _Alone._ ", he said with much emphasis on the 'alone' part.

Kara turned and grinned awkwardly at Garfield, who was standing barely three inches away from her.

"Heh-Heh. Riiight.. Yeah.. I uh.. I gotta go. Train s'more... So..I'll..uh.. see you at the tower, I guess. ", Kara chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck like she often did when she felt awkward.

At this, Garfield's shoulders drooped instantly and his face fell, to the point where Kara felt bad.

"Oh. Okay. I'll.. uh.. see you..okay then. Later. ", he said simply before morphing into a bald eagle and soaring away back towards the tower.

 _That could've gone better_ , Kara thought to herself.

Shrugging it off, she lightly stepped left and right in a slow dance, preparing her feet for a jump as she stared up into the sky with her brows furrowed in concentration. Clark said that Kryptonian's gain energy under the sun. And with the sun burning bright today, it was as good a time as any to try .

For a few prolonged seconds, Kara did nothing besides step left and right in her place ever so lightly and then, with a massive intake of breath, there was a loud bang that echoed through the valley as she shot skywards, leaping higher than she had ever done before. The ground from where she had shot up had cracked open halfway under the force.

The cold wind billowed her hair and yet, unlike four days ago, she did not feel the cold temperature of the winds to that extent. Her abilities and likeness to superman's own seemed to be developing day by day.

There was a sharp sound in the air as she cut through the atmosphere before losing height and landing back to earth with a resounding , ground cracking crunch , some eighty feet away from her initial position, before shooting back up skyward, this time with a groan of strain as she forced herself up with more pressure , in the hope of going even higher.

And she did jump higher .Much higher and longer than she had ever done before. The green landscape below was nothing but a blur as she whizzed pas it, faster than a plane would have at that altitude.

At max height, she threw out her arms in front of her, assuming the position that her cousin did ever so often when he flew and lunged her body forward with everything she had, essentially jumping higher when she was mid air.

And it seemed like her plan worked. She laughed out loud, exhilarated as she rose up even higher when she should have been descending in height. She couldn't believe it. She was high enough to the point where she had broken through into the blanket of clouds in the sky.

"WOOHOOO! YEAH!", she yelled at the top of her voice , a wide grin plastered on her face as she rose higher and higher. She had never felt like this before. The wind billowing in her ear, surrounded by nothing but the white clouds . She felt free. She felt the weight of the world falling away. She felt like she had no care in the world. She felt warm and peaceful. She was flying.

But then, it all went wrong.

The first thing she noticed was that her lungs were gasping for air under the increased air pressure as they were not used to breathing at such a conditions where the air was so , the fact that the air was a stinging icy cold didn't help either. She didn't feel the cold but the icy winds stung her nostrils and she could feel the stinging sensation in her larynx.

Gradually, she felt her speed slowing down and she began to lose balance of her body and she began to cough as her lungs pumped faster to adjust to this new altitude that she had never been exposed to before.

Before she knew it, she lost complete control of her ascent and was tumbling and free falling back to earth as she was straining due to her lungs adjusting to the thinner air.

With a piercing wooshing sound that cracked through the silence of the air, Kara plummeted back to earth, crashing right through a nearby mountain , shooting out the other end and finally colliding back to earth in a small crater on the ground.

The grassy dwarf mountain that she had just cut through began to crumble due to her dislodging parts of it and the noise of crumbling rock and earth could be heard echoing through the silent valleys .

She groaned and lay there, disappointed with herself for failing to fly despite all the help she had been getting from Raven and Starfire. She had definitely done better than her first few attempts but she was nowhere close to where she wanted to be.

She didn't feel any sort of pain either. She didn't even feel like she had just crashed straight through a mountain. If only she had known she had such power when she was growing up,there were so many people she wished to punch or hurt, those who had hurt her. But then again.. that's not what Superm...Clark Kent would have done.

No. He would never use his power to hurt those for personal reasons. She didn't know how he did it. How he restrained from using his power on those who got on his wrong side. She may be frustrated with him as per latest events, but deep down... she admired the person he was and wanted to be more like him.

And she had only known him for over a month now. She wondered what knowing him for a lifetime would have felt like.

"Ya know.. Kori's really gonna be pissed off if she learns that you just decimated an entire mountain side. She's a huge nature lover. ", a familiar voice spoke up from behind her, jerking her up with a gasp .

Flipping around, she saw Kyle hovering inches above the ground with a smirk on his face. He was in his lantern form, green unifrom and all.

"When I said I wanted to practice alone, I meant it.", Kara huffed , dusting herself before leaping up and out of the crater. She may not be able to fly yet, but she did notice the way she slowed down on her landing, cushioning her impact as to prior times where she just basically crashed her feet onto the ground.

"What do you want anyway?", Kara huffed.

"Yeah..uh... Superman is waiting for you in the main hall."

Kara grit her teeth and her face lit up in anger."Tell him to leave. I'm not talking to him. ", she huffed.

Kyle scratched his head. "Yeah.. Supes said something similar about not leaving us unless you went with him. It's kinda important for you , he said. Says he wants to take you somewhere. ".

* * *

"You do realize that flying me to the arctic isn't gonna change my mood, right?", Kara asked with an arrogant tone as she lay on her cousin's back with her arms wrapped around his neck as Superman flew on across the barren white arctic tundras below, red and blue against a white background.

"Where are we going anyway?", Kara asked, looking around and seeing nothing but barren ice lands. Even her X-ray vision could pick up nothing.

Her question was answered five minutes later when Superman flew out of the small small storm they had been flying through and entered a clearing .

"There.', he simply stated.

Kara blinked and slowly opened her eyes and her jaw dropped at the sight in front of them.

There, looming about a hundred feet way , was a giant crystalline spherical structure with razor sharp icicle jutting out from every possible area on he sphere. It sat there, sunk mid way into the ground and looked rather like a porcupine, only, a lot more magnificent and other worldly .

There was not a single structure like this one . At least from what Kara had seen so far. It looked like an icy structure but using her super vision, Kara could see that the thing was made of something a lot more refined and smoother than ice. It was an incredible, giant crystal palace in the middle of nowhere.

Seeing the amazed look on his cousin's face, Clark wore a smug smile as he flew towards the Fortress of Solitude.

* * *

It was midday.

The titans were lounging around lazily in the common room . Kara had left with Superman around forty five minutes ago and Kori had gone out for a round of flying to get away from all her responsibilities.

Kyle was lying upside down on the couch with his feet in the air and his head hanging off the edge of the seat, flicking through the news channels while Garfield was having a self imposed counselling session with Jaime , who was not approving of it. Damian sat on a separate couch, on his gadgetry while Raven had headed out into the gardens to 'be alone' as she had put it.

"It's like she's so pretty and brave . And really hot.I mean. We're a perfect match, ya know? She's all that I'm the entire animal kingdom crammed into this magnificent specimen.", Garfield said as Kyle chortled and wiped away a solitary tear .

"What's so funny?", Garfield demanded, glaring at him , well is feet anyway, since his head was out of view, hanging upside down on the couch.

"Nothin. Nothin... Just that you're not your usual self lately..",Kyle snickered as he flickered through another channel.

"Dude, you've only known her for like five days!", Jaime hissed.

"Hey! It's not my fault you guys don't believe in love at first sight!",Garfield retorted.

"Would you stop acting like a mopey love puppy? Did you forget what happened when you did that with Terra?", Damian seethed from his couch across from theirs.

"He does have a point.", Jaime nodded.

Garfield groaned and hunched back , leaning onto the cushions , his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

* * *

"Whoa...", Kara breathed as she walked around, her head craning in multiple directions as she tried to take in everything her eyes were letting her see. It was incredible. Almost surreal. The fortress of Solitude.

From the outside, it looked like nothing but a bunch of crystal stalagmites and stalagtites jutting out in random directions , but inside... it was so much more.

After her initial bout of excitement at seeing the place had died down, it kicked up again the second time when Clark walked her in.

The entrance doorway was sealed and only slid open when Clark laid his palm on it . The colossal entrance hallway probably had to be the biggest structure Kara had ever seen. It was mostly white , due to the translucent crystals that lined the place, but it had rather intriguing additions to it as well. It looked like a tiny planet embedded onto the earth, hidden away from prying eyes.

Two huge statues, no, monuments stood erect on either side of the stairs that led to a higher landing. One was a male had his chiseled facial features squared and set as it was slightly angled upward and Kara could make out his scruffy beard and acute eyes.

One of his hands was raised high above his head and supported what seemed to be a crystalline model of another planet.

The female structure also had her hand up, supporting another part of the same spherical model . Her face was a lot different from the man's much kinder looking and more hopeful. Hopeful? What the hell had gotten into Kara, thinking such whimsical thoughts that never would have crossed her mind just over a month ago.

"That's my mother and father. Jor-El and Lara. He was...a scientist back on Krypton . Jor-El had a younger sister, Alura. Your mother. ", Clark said, walking up behind her.

At the mention of her mother's name, Kara let out a small gasp. She wondered how her mother would have been like. Probably like Clark was. And where was she? Why did she leave ? Is.. could she be still alive?

Kara found such thoughts rather depressing and continued to walk forward into a dome shaped room on the right.

This room was a lot more livelier. It seemed to be housing what appeared to be flora and fauna of species that Kara had never see before.

Some looked rather repulsive, like one of the plants that had jaws snapping at her with green saliva drooling out. Then there were more peaceful looking creatures who were minding about their business in their glass containment units.

Some of the animals had three eyes or four arms. Hell, Kara saw a medium sized dragon like creature with six arms and translucent wings attached. It looked passive but it's scaly skin was rather off putting.

"What...is this place?", Kara whispered, her eyes darting left and right in amazement.

"This is the Habitat sanctuary. All these creature once inhabited Krypton and other extra terrestrial planets. My father had sent sample files of their DNA codings stored in the pod that brought me here. Once I started the procedure, Kal-X has been monitoring and looking after the place. ", Clark elaborated.

Kara cocked an eyebrow.

"Who's Kal-X?".

"Master. The re-programming of the Althurian codex has been successful . Awaiting further instructions. ", a rather velvety and mechanical voice buzzed from behind Kara, making the sixteen year old girl shriek and flip over her cousin's head, throwing her fists up into battle stance.

It came from a rather peculiar looking robot , hovering harmlessly above the ground.

It had not face and no limbs, from the look of it . It had one red circular eye like structure on the top of it's head and it's body frame was structured like a kite, with soft edges . It had a copper tint and a blue light was emanating fro cracks in it's body, probably it's circuitry.

"This..is Kal-X. There were many of these back on Krypton. Helper bots. My father sent this guy in a containment cube in my pod . ", Clark chuckled . He then turned to the bot eyeing Kara curiously.

"Kal-X, this is my cousin sister, Kara Zor-El. ".

The bot buzzed , as if gasping in delight. "A member of he house of El!?", it exclaimed, through it's voice modulators.

"Welcome. Please find _Mrathrll_ here. ", it buzzed before hovering away.

"Umm.. What did he say?", Kara perked up, scratching her head.

"Hmm...OH! Right. I forgot. You don't speak Kryptonian yet. He simply said you can find solace here. ", Clark said, snapping out of the trance.

Kara chortled.

"Riiightt..I'll let Kal-X know when I need some 'Solace'. ".

Clark chuckled. "Anyway. I ..uh.. May have been too harsh on you the other day.. And I did not consider the fact that you are still new to your powers..So..I would..like to apologize.", he stammered awkwardly, offering a small smile, taking Kara by surprise.

She wanted to keep him on the hook but seeing how sincere he looked, she gave in.

"All right.. I'll let you off...By the way.. this place? It's awesome! When Can I move in?!", she exclaimed with a squeal

* * *

 _*ISS. EST 04:12:36_

The Inky blackness of the vast expanse of stars stayed as silent as ever. Nothing moved, except for the belt of demolished asteroid debris drifting by silently.

The view of the blue planet from the ISS was magnificent , and one had to be lucky enough to land such a coveted job to be able to encounter such a view.

And across from the station, half the diameter of the Earth away, drifted the metallic, bronze plated structure that was the watchtower of the Justice league, hovering at a slightly tilted angle . The structure was semi domed on the upper portion, with two rings encasing the main structure, mounted on a long, silvery metallic plasma thruster the size of a small village in area . It also had smaller , less powerful supporting boosters along the outer rims of the thin, semi circled structure extending out from the main building.

The watchtower was almost as big as the ISS itself, if not a match in size. It definitely looked more stylish anyway.

Just then, the silence of the vacuum that was space , was broken as the distinct sound of a hurtling body could be heard , coming in from the eastern sector.

The crew member gasped, hurrying over to the monitor screens or to the view screens as they caught sight of the source, a burning metallic ball engulfed in flames , halfway around the world, hurtling towards what was north Africa. It was yet to break into the earth's orbit but even if they rung the alarm to alert the authorities, it would be too late to stop it anyway.

"Hvad fanden er det?", one of the crew supervisors watching the extra terrestrial asteroid plummet mumbled, his brain trying to rack up a logical explanation as to what this thing was. It was like nothing they had ever seen. It was not some random piece of rock either, from what they could see.

They watched as the mystery metal asteroid broke into the earth atmosphere , racing towards surface of the planet in a burning ball of flame .

* * *

 **Till next time!**

 **PS: Here's the link to what I imagined my OC version of Kyle Rayner's costume to look like. You can take a look if you'd like. I do not own the image.**

( art/Young-Justice-TV-Kyle-Rayner-245907136 ) **\- Click on the first result after you enter the link . Anyway, Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5- Unearthly Existence

**A/N** : **Hey guys! I'm back with a new chapter! My Finals are finally done with and I can now focus on my story. Thanks for all the comments and all the suggestions so far! Keep 'em comin! It really helps! And thanks for all the views! Any possible suggestions are welcome and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!**

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Five - Unearthly Existence**

"Your neurotransmitter levels are stabilized and no visible spikes in blood sample toxicity. ", Bruce said monotonously, not taking his eyes off the wide holoscreen monitor that was displaying Kara's blood analysis.

Ever since they found out she had trouble flying and controlling her powers, Bruce had insisted on her coming for regular checkups at the league's headquarters to make sure her body systems and other related processes were stable. Bruce had a inkling that she might have problems due to her dual planetary heritage, but so far, there was no indication to this, meaning, her body was functioning normally despite the fact that she was half alien.

"So.. then.. there's nothing wrong with my body?", Kara inquired, walking up to him.

"No. You body vitals are stable and blood cell count indicates that your body is functioning normally. ", Bruce stated simply, moving to switch off the screen.

"So then.. why can't I fly?", Kara asked impatiently as Bruce shifted past her.

"I don't know yet .", Bruce said, not bothering to spare her a look.

"Well, you've been a massive help. ", Kara scoffed, crossing her arms and looking away with furrowed brows.

At this, Batman finally looked at her , his mouth a thin slit as he pursed his lips.

"You projecting your frustration at Clark onto me is not going to do any of us any good. You'll just make yourself more angry and be a pain at my side. ", he stated simply, catching Kara off guard.

She opened up her mouth to argue back, but closed it after a prolonged second where both of them silently stared at each other. There was no point denying it anyway. It was the truth.

Halfway into their visit to the fortress of solitude, Clark had been contacted by Diana about the league needing their help with some extraterrestrial object that had crashed somewhere in northern Africa. Clark had ended up apologetically dropping his sister off at the league's headquarters at the S.T.A.R labs facility while Bruce stayed behind , opting to check up on her. Him checking her vitals had been a norm since her Kryptonian side gotten activated from exposure to Kryptonite vials.

"Thought so. ", Bruce said monotonously , seeing Kara's slightly defeated expression.

Just then, the eight foot tall , newly fitted brass doors of the meeting room banged open and a blonde man dressed up in a prim grey suit marched in with a pompous attitude and an arrogant grin spread across his chiseled, middle aged face.

His wavy golden brown locks were neatly combed flat over his head and his sky blue eyes, barely a shade darker than Kara's own, were almost beaming gleefully as he made his way towards them.

Despite his pompous manner, he had a ..well...sort of determined expression woven in over his lined face. Kara didn't know much about him since she was no fan of his television show , but he had to be at least in his late forties. She didn't know why, but there was just something very detestable about him.

Godfrey Gordon. A real pain in the butt to anyone with a hint of something out of the ordinary.

Gordon had acquired permission from the US senate to have free access to the Justice league headquarters to perform an in-depth survey and search of the area by himself to make sure that the league wasn't, as he put it, 'planning an unholy superpowered invasion ' behind their backs.

On his first day Gordon had put two and two together, seeing Kara frequently visiting the place, her interactions with Superman and her slight similarity in appearance to the man of steel, that she was his relative.

He was on his way to announce to the world how the league were harboring more and more godlike aliens under their noses but Superman, upon learning of the man's discovery, against Batman's discretion, had gone and pinned the pompous Gordon to the wall, threatening him that if he opened his mouth about Kara to the press, he would stick up a tree trunk where the sun didn't shine.

"Batman!", Gordon beamed irritably, extending his arm out with what was clearly a voice recorder with his palm wrapped around it.

"And..you..", he added as an afterthought, acknowledging Kara's presence in the room.

The hot headed sixteen year old grimaced at him and the moment he turned around, she stuck her tongue out and punched the air dangerously close to his head, to the extent that he felt a breeze.

"Batman. I see that the rest of the league has left you in charge of babysitting once again?", he asked with a mock tone .

Bruce didn't respond to it, but Kara, being the more impulsive person in the room, stamped her foot.

"I don't need a goddamn baby sitter. I'm sixteen, okay? I'm older than your lousy toupee. ", Kara scoffed.

Gordon seemed slightly perturbed, and Kara relished the expression on his face.

"Excuse me, Miss. This is no toupee. This is one hundred percent natural hair that I was born with. ", he argued. Kara snickered with a devilish smirk.

"Yeah? Buddy, ya might wanna go for a different hairstylist then.. unless you were going for that young Donald Trump kinda look. ", Kara retorted . Godfrey opened his mouth to argue back but was cut short by Batman, who finally answered his question.

"The league had official business that I'm not at liberty to speak about and I would be more of use right here at the moment. And it has got nothing to do with the girl. ", Batman said monotonously.

Godfrey raised an eyebrow and smirked at him.

"Civil liberties are being trampled in Gotham. There is news of a bloodthirsty new vigilante dressed up in red mask running around the streets, gunning down people whom he claims are criminals. Do you call this justice? What is your position on this vigilante? Don't you think this vigilante strengthens my argument that we don't need a league of freaks dressed in tights defending us?", Godfrey pressed on.

"If I were you, I'd hope that he wouldn't get to me, seeing as you are determined on making life difficult for people trying to do good. ", Batman said with a mocking edge that Kara didn't know the Dark knight had. But seeing the beaten and slightly alarmed expression on Godfrey's face, she snickered.

Godfrey shrugged it off and pressed on.

" There have been nation wide reports of an asteroid that entered the earth's atmosphere . I have reason to believe that the Justice League is involved in this. Is that why every single member except for you has gone missing for the past three hours? Or is it because of a 'training exercise' as you call it?", he asked hotly, emphasizing his words with a signaled quote.

"All I know about that Asteroid is what you saw on the news. Nothing more, nothing less. And yes. They are just out on a training exercise. ", Batman said, his voice unemotional. That was a lie. Kara knew that much. It was the reason Kara's time with her cousin had been cut short as Superman had been called in to investigate by Hal Jordan, the Martian manhunter and Government liason Steve Trevor.

At this, Gordon clicked the voice recorder off and cleared his throat. "We are off record right now. Are you sure the league has no idea of what that asteroid was? Or does this merry band of men in tights have more cards that it is dealing?", Godfrey said silently.

"Even if we knew about this giant asteroid thingy, which we don't ,Why'd you think we'd tell you?", Kara scoffed, unable to hold down her impatience any longer.

At this point, Godfrey made up his mind to finally bit back at the irritating bug of a girl. He clenched his teeth and ran his eyes up and down Kara's figure as she stood, arms crossed in her sleeveless sky blue sweatshirt and baggy brown pants.

"We?", he asked simply. " You think yourself one of them? You are nothing but an immature, impulsive little amateur who just happened to be lucky enough to be related to the man of it weren't for your big brother, you're nothing. D'you think any of these people would give a damn about you if you were not related to Superman? No!", he said.

" Ha! And I saw your little show that other night in Metropolis. Yes ,don't look so shocked. I know that was you. You think you're a hero? You caused a hell of a lot more destruction than an elephant put in a room full of glass . ", Godfrey continued, rendering Kara speechless with Batman unable to say anything, unless he wanted Gordon to go running off and crying to the press . So the dark knight stayed silent.

"You're nothing but a half baked, low budget version of Superman who's still in training, from what I've heard. Hell. Even your little friends over in San Francisco are better at their Job than you are. So don't think you're one of them yet, little missy, even if you'd like to be. Which reminds me. How _is_ your flight training coming along? Made any significant progress? ", Godfrey asked with a nasty smile on his face.

Kara didn't reply, simply standing there at a loss for words at this sudden harsh reality that was being brutally bashed into her.

"Hm. Didn't think so. So prove that you're worth something, Kryptonian, or stay out of my way.", Gordon finished, with a victorious and arrogant smirk etched across his face, seeing the shocked look on Kara's face.

With every word the horrible man uttered, Kara's confidence was crashing down. She didn't know why, but it all felt true.

Kori, Raven,Jaime, Gar, Kyle, all of them were better at their job than she had been so had tried so hard to fly and yet, nothing.

And she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be getting this much care and attention if she was just another super powered orphan and not a relative of Superman. For the first time in she didn't know what to do. Her mind had gone blank.

And to top it all off, she couldn't fly and she did cause a lot more damage than she had hoped to prevent that night when she stopped the robbery.

She wanted to punch his face backwards off his skull but she knew the consequences and it took all her willpower to hold herself down. Jerk.

Her heart rate began to increase and any confidence she had in herself began to crack. She felt the stinging sensation in her eyes as tears began welling up .

"Good day,Batman.", Gordon stated simply and marched off, leaving Kara and Bruce silent.

"There's nothing wrong with you, according to the data results. You just need to work through your weaknesses. ", Bruce said, hoping to ease up the sixteen year old, from whom tense energy was practically oozing out.

* * *

 _NORTHERN AFRICA, EST 15:24_

The incinerating heat of the afternoon sun bore down on the orangish sands of the northern desert in South Sudan in the north of the African continent. Parched winds blew over the lands, blowing any dust or tiny particles of sand with it. The air itself would make a person feel parched and long for any source of water, not that there was any water source for another thousand miles.

The landscape somewhat symbolized the contract to heaven and earth, with the white skies reflected against the orange-crimson lands of cracked and parched grounds lacking in water.

Three or four vultures were circling the orb of the burning sun, in a slow, monotonous dance as they waited for the creature on the ground to wear itself out. But this was no creature.

It was a metallic creature, of alien origin, not of this world.

From the much discussed metallic asteroid that had crashed into the earth's atmosphere, a tiny, metallic spider-like creature, the size of an average fist had gotten out. There was no way to describe the thing in it's purest form.

It had lain there, under the cool shade that it's pod had provided until a viable host body entered the vicinity.

/

John Corben had been on the run for over two years from the authorities now and his escapades had led the caucasian middle aged male out into the scorching deserts of South Sudan.

He had been hiding out in the middle of nowhere for days now and he happened to catch the unmistakable glint of metal gleaming in the hot desert sun. As it was, curiosity killed the beast and Corben was drawn to the source.

The metal herald which had been hiding under the shade, sensed the presence of a host life form and wasting no more time, sprang at it and latched onto it, fusing itself onto Corben's spinal constructions. Corben was a normal human no more. He was a Herald, more metal and cybernetics than man. He was now a herald of the Collector Of Worlds.

"Threat acquired. And the pod he arrived in lies nearby. I'm sending you the coordinates, Superman. ", J'onn said with a calm voice into his transmitter. At the sound of approaching life forms, the body that once belonged to John Corben, now taken over by an artificial intelligence, looked up with crimson glowing eyes sunken into it's silvery eye sockets.

The figures of J'onn J'onzz, Hal Jordan and Steve Trevor(who was aboard a hovercycle), descended down from the overcast skies .

J'onn , or as everyone called him, the Martian Manhunter, was the most eye catching of the trio . His dark emerald skin clearly indicated his extraterrestrial origin and that, with his crimson eyes, created a very intriguing aura around him. He had no hair, unlike his two companions and a bald head connected to his chiseled facial features.

A sleek , jet black suit that wrapped around his body was fastened upto his neckline, with a navy blue cape layered from his neckline, fluttering around behind him magnificently. His suit had a blood red 'X' mark strapped across , running around his chest, holding his cape in place. There wasn't much to describe him really, except that he had a very stoic and unemotional air around him, almost similar to Batman's own brooding personality.

Next to him descended the first Green Lantern of Sector two-eight-one-four, Hal Jordan. His lantern uniform was evidently different from that of Kyle Rayner's , with white gloves that the former did not sport. Hal was also a lot older than Kyle was and his body structure was a lot more muscular , making him to be the more intimidating lantern of the two, even though those that knew him would beg to differ.

Hal had been assigned by the guardians to mentor the newly recruited Lantern Rayner, but the brash air force pilot did not take to the job so well, training Kyle with just the basics on Oa before dumping him onto the teen titans, making excuses about him needing field practice with people his own age. The last time he had seen his 'protege' was when all of the corps had been called in for a meeting back on Oa. But that was over three months ago could say that they didn't have a very good Mentor-protege' relationship.

Lastly, was Steve Trevor, former US military personnel and the government liason to the Justice League.

He had been granted permission by the white house to function alongside the league so that he could be of help, but secretly, the league knew that the government had only placed him in their ranks to keep tabs on them. But he was a manageable guy, so it didn't matter.

The android being seemed to be processing their language, as it didn't have any. It had always received instructions from it's maker via electrical impulses .

J'onn was the first to speak up while the other two stayed silent behind him.

"Do you require assistance? We may be of help. ", he said calmly , slowly landing on the ground barely seven inches away from the andorid herald.

The thing simply stared at J'onn with it's crimson lit eyes. Then, before anyone could discern what was happening, the thing stood upright, almost six feet in height and swung it's metallic fist, knocking J'onn squarely across the bottom of his jaw, sending him up into the air before he crashed a few feet away, groaning.

He hadn't expected _that_ to happen.

"So...He's not a friendly?", Hal asked with a humorous tone.

"Hrngh..No. Definitely not a friendly. ", J'onn groaned as he picked himself off the dusty ground.

"All right then. We don't have to be either. ", Steve remarked, standing up from his seat on the hover cycle and loading his energy blaster gun. He slid the safety catch on his suit to 'on' and poised the blaster at the android , aiming it at the ready.

"You do not want to get close to this one, Steve Trevor. He does not seem to be having a mind of it's own. ", J'onn said , raising his hand to stop Trevor from firing.

"Ha! Who cares, Manhunter?", Hal snorted, hovering two feet off the ground.

"I mean what I say, Hal Jordan. We should adopt a more tactical approach. It seems to have sensors built in so I cannot phase shift through it to disable it like other machines. ", J'onn continued.

"Meaning...?", Hal asked, unsure of what the green martian was implying.

"What I mean is that I can sense that it is not all machine, despite how it looks to be. I can sense two life forms in it, one more cybernetic than the other. ", J'onn elaborated.

"Cool. Cyborg's gonna get a new playmate. ", Hal joked.

"Tactical I can do. We need to test this thing out, find out it's em there. ", Steve remarked thoughtfully. He then turned to the green martian.

"J'onzz, you're up. I know that heat is a weakness to you but we've gotta try every angle out here. ", Trevor said. J'onn nodded, understanding. He slowly drifted off the ground, hovering six feet in the air.

"Normally, I would refuse. But here, with this one..", J'onn said as crimson energy lazer beams shot out of his eyes and at the android, and at the same time, Trevor shot out a plasma energy blast at the thing .

As the smoke cleared, the figure of the silver skinned metallic creature came into view, encased with it's hands raised up, shielding it's face from J'onn's energy blast.

"It is done. He is sealed in the glass. But how we will transport him to the Watchtower, I do not know yet. ", J'onn remarked as he drifted back to the ground.

"Hey, buddy! You're forgetting the fact that you've got a green lantern here! I can do just as much heavy lifting as supes or wonder woman. ", Hal scoffed with an offended expression.

"Yes. I apologize. I did not -", J'onn began with an apologetic smile before he was cut short as there was a loud and echoing bang and shards of glass was flying everywhere , forcing the three of them to duck. The next thing they know, there was smoke trailing from the area where the glass had been and the android was free now, it's eyes glowing red too.

"So metallica's got lazer eyes too, huh. ", Hal remarked.

Then, in a flash, metal blades were flying everywhere and the Hal and Steve recovered, they found the android on top of J'onn, beating his face in. Why was the martian holding back?

"ENOUGH!", Hal roared and formed an emerald pillar from his ring. He swung his fist forward and sent the pillar swinging and bashed it against the android's skull, tipping it off balance as it flew a few feet away, rolling in the sand.

As Hal helped J'onn up, the android picked itself up off the ground and it's eyes began to glow crimson as it prepared to attack Hal.

Just then, a glowing golden lasso appeared out of nowhere and swung around it's neck, tightening it's grip before a strong , sharp tug pulled the thing up into the air. Seconds later, the android crashed back onto earth, Lasso still fastened and two figures, a man and a woman slowly drifted down , following it.

"Hello Steve. ", Diana remarked as she and Clark landed softly .

"Diana. ", Steve Trevor remarked as he eyed the Amazonian princess and the Kryptonian land, with the golden lasso still fastened around the android's neck.

"Why is this thing attacking you?", Clark inquired, sparing the metallic humanoid a glance as it peered up at him with glowing red eyes.

"No idea. Thought you might know, since you're an alien and everything. ", Trevor scoffed as Clark raised an eyebrow at him.

"Alien is a relative term, Trevor. And you brought J'onn along. Why not ask him?", Clark retorted. He never really liked Steve Trevor. Maybe it was because he was an irritable person at times. Or maybe it was because Clark had caught the blonde man ogling Diana during press conferences or league meetings.

"They did ask me. I do not know what it is and I cannot seem to be able to establish a mental communication link with it's primary core. ", J'onn interrupted, rubbing his head.

"Primary core?", Hal chimed in, rubbing his chin, not understanding what the green martian implied.

"While I was trying to get through to it's mental faculty, which it doesn't seem to possess, I sensed subconscious nerve signals being relayed within it's body. I have reason to believe that the extra terrestrial has in fact taken the body of a host from Earth. We cannot simply obliterate the android to nullify it. There is an innocent civilian trapped in there. ", J'onn elaborated.

"Hmm...That does make this a lot more complicated. Does anyone have a commway with Batman?", Steve said, glancing around.

"Sorry bro. Signal in south Sudan is apparently still stuck in the rock ages. Can't get a signal bar through. ", Hal groaned.

"Let's take it to Headquarters. We'll decide what to do with it there. ", Superman concluded .

Just then, unknown to the five beings standing around talking, the andorid, which had been running a species scanner on them all finally concluded and the codex was accepted. The android closed it's crimson eyes and established a mental connection with it's master, sending electrical relay alerts .

The one species, the Kryptonians, which had eluded the collector of worlds due to it's planetary destruction , had been was standing right in front of it.

* * *

It was dusk. The eastern winds blew hard , shifting the clouds along as it migrated like cattle across the sky. The sun had already begun to set but the skies were not full black yet, but a dark shade of purple, mixed with the bright golden speck of lights that was the city of San Francisco.

Kara sat alone, atop the top of the Titan's tower, one leg hanging off the edge of the building as she hugged the other close to her chest, silently watching the the brightly lit city in the horizon.

Tears were silently streaming down her cheeks as her thoughts betrayed her and kept replaying the comments that that horrible man had inflicted at felt worthless. Like nobody wanted her .

It was not because Godfrey Gordon had said those things that she felt bad. It was because she herself had been having those feelings and thoughts for a while now.

The weaker version of Superman, that's what she was. Her team was better than her. They never caused more damage than they were trying to prevent. They had full control of their powers. And she... she almost always ended up destroying the area or almost killing someone whenever she let her powers out. And that's why Clark never let her go anywhere without him when she was staying with him.

Even he didn't trust her fully.

She felt pathetic. She had been trying so hard, practicing so hard to control her powers to the full extent, and yet, she was hardly that much better than she was when she first discovered them.

Even her parents had left her at the doorstep of an orphanage . They most likely didn't want her either. Clark was supposed to be the big brother she never had but he was around the world , saving people all the time and never had time for her.

Kara sniffed and dropped her head onto her knee, shutting her eyes as she wept silently. Here she could cry without letting anyone see her weak side. She was perceived as the hot headed and feisty girl by her new teammates and she wanted to keep it that way.

Just then, she heard the familiar voices of the other titans calling out her name. After she had returned from the league's headquarters with Batman, she hadn't met any of them, saying that she was tired and she had spent the remainder of the evening up here.

"KARA! WHERE ARE YOU!?", she heard Kori's voice call out.

"KARA! YOU OUT HERE?!", came the voices of Jaime and Kyle as Kara quickly wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"KAAAARAAAAA!", Garfield called out.

Just then, using her super hearing, she picked up the soft noise of wings flapping and not a second later, the unmistakable green figure of an eagle that was Beastboy came flapping up.

"I FOUND HER!", Garfield called out to the others as he came flapping down towards her, morphing back into his human form.

Not a second later, Kori, Raven and Jaime came floating up , all of them except for Jaime dressed in casual clothing. Kyle and Damian followed behind, with Kyle forming an emerald platform for the Batman's son to stand on, since, essentially, he was the only member on the team who lacked any real powers.

"There you are!", Garfield exclaimed with a sigh as he walked up next to her, followed by the noticed that Kara didn't seem herself and he could see that the blonde kryptonian was not meeting their eyes.

"You okay?", he inquired,concerned.

"I'm...fine.", Kara said nonchalantly,perhaps a little to nonchalantly, since the others could sense that she wasn't telling them everything.

"Come on...What's wrong?", Kyle inquired as Damian followed, his arms crossed across his chest , wearing the unemotional stare she had gotten used to ,thanks to his father.

Kara let out a sigh and looked up. Now, her friends could easily make out that she had been crying. In the time they had known her, they had never seen her crying.

"How am I supposed to help people and be like you guys if I can't control my powers? I can't even fly. I can't punch properly without destroying a building in the process. I've gotta be the worst teammate you guys have ever had..", Kara sniffed, waving her arm around to emphasize her point. "I just feel so...useless..".

"Now that's nonsense! You are amazing!", Kori scolded,placing a hand on Kara's shoulder while the Tamaranean princess screwed up her face to prove how much she meant it.

"Yeah. And remember, Superman had all his life to master his powers. You've just been at it for over a month now. ", Kyle chimed in as Garfield nodded.

"Yeah and most of the time, Superman had help from the rest of his team when takin down big baddies like Darksied or Prince Orm from the Atlantean invasion four years ago. ", Garfield added, flashing Kara a warm smile.

"He's got his team like you've got yours. We've got your back, Kara. And you're one of our strongest members, so don't think any lower.", Jaime added.

"Friends never turn their back on each other. ", Raven mumbled, giving Kara a smile for the first time. It felt weird , but nice.

"How 'bout a team moment, huh?", Jaime grinned, holding his hand out, as Garfield did the same.

"Come on!", Kyle added as he joined in.

Seeing all her friends call her, Kara felt a warm , fuzzy, feeling in her heart that she rarely felt.

"Alright.", she sighed and picked herself off, joining in.

"Let's do it!", Jaime exclaimed cheerfully as Raven and Damian joined in.

"YEAH! LET'S DO IT!",Garfield added with an ear to ear grin, which was quickly replaced by a confused expression.

"Umm..What're we doing?", he added, scratching his head, causing his teammates to burst out laughing at the silly moment.

"I know what we can do to cheer up ! A trip to the carnival!", Kori exclaimed joyfully, clasping her hands together.

"Oh no . Not that again. This time, I pick out what we'll be doing for 'fun'.", Damian interjected with a smirk.

* * *

"You sure it's okay for us to be out of compound at this hour? The league might get pissed if they found out . ", Garfield whispered coarsely as all of them waited outside one of the brightly lit convenience stores that Kori had gone in to purchase a few drinks while the team waited for any signs of crime or trouble on the Police frequency that Damian had hacked into.

If she was being honest, Kara did prefer this over going and spending time in the mall, which most girls her age preferred to do. It was exhilarating and was something she could never do her whole life. Be free.

"You can go back to your warcraft games if this isn't living upto your hype. ", Damian hissed, not taking his eyes off the transmitted box he was holding underneath his jacket.

The whole team was in civilian clothing, lounging around on fifty-fourth central street, waiting for any distress calls so they could act on it. Damian thought this to be a better way of 'having fun' than going to a carnival. And for the first time since she had met the stuck up guy, she agreed with him. She wanted to vent out her frustrations by kicking some ass.

Raven was dressed in a short, croptop leather jacket and a black short skirt.

Garfield was wearing a purple sweatshirt and a green baseball hat. Jaime, Kyle and Kara didn't need much hiding , since they didn't posses any extraordinary physical aspect that would've made them stand out.

Kyle was dressed in a plain grey tee shirt and skinny black pants, similar with Jaime's except that the latter's apparel differed in color.

Kara wore her trademark sleeveless ice blue sweatshirt and for this gig, she chose to wear black leggings, since her more favored baggy pants would've come in her way when sprinting. She, unlike Kori and Raven, had pulled up her hair into a tight ponytail through a spool that made her hair stick out in a pointy manner and bounce around whenever she moved.

"Anyone want any refreshing orange juice?", Kori remarked as she made her way towards them. Garfield groaned and pursed his lips with a frown on his face.

"You went in there for five minutes and brought back just orange juice?!" he whined. Kori blinked rapidly.

"I'm sorry. I did not know you preferred another form of sustenance. If you want, I could refund.", Kori said, looking slightly demoralized at beastboy's inconsiderate comment.

Kyle elbowed him hard in the ribs , causing the green skinned titan to chuckle awkwardly , smiling apologetically as he shook his head.

"Nahh. It's all good. Orange is good for health anyway. ".Kori's face lit up and she flashed him a warm smile.

Kara stepped forth to pick her can of fruit juice when her enhanced hearing picked up noises of cars crashing and something with really strong arms striking the ground.

Simultaneously, the police transmitter in Damian's hand buzzed and a voice crackled out.

" _CODE NINETY-FIVE! Three Metahumans. Move to locate. On twenty-third broadway street. They seem to be breaking into the San Francisco S.T.A.R labs division. Taking Fire! Taking fire! Targets capsizing vehicles . Civilian casualties. Requesting backup!",_ the female officer's voice crackled out as the titan's met eyes.

"Let's do this.", Kara said with a smirk, adrenaline pumping as she cracked her knuckles.

* * *

A twenty tonne water tanker was hurled in the air, forcing the frightened civilians to scream and duck out of the way as a seven foot tall gargantuan of a man with red flaming hair and long , drooping sideburns smashed the pavement, cracking it open.

He roared into the night as his two companions, Jinx and Gizmo, created as much chaos as he did the destruction.

Boulder, the metahuman with a transforming condition, had been rechristened as 'mammoth', and had been recruited as one of the four H.I.V.E operatives who had been deployed by the academy to retrieve some biological component.

Now, Mammoth had a lot more control over his brain and his actions now, since he had been given a dosage of the A-thirteen prototype compound that reduced the tension build up on his nerve relays and stabilized his chemical fluidity whenever he transformed into his bigger, more destructive self.

He had even been give a spandex , high-tech suit that expanded and contracted, adjusting to his body's size. He had spent barely two days in a high security prison up north of National city before he had been bailed out by a mysterious benefactor and had been recruited into the ranks of the H.I.V.E operation. He didn't tell his teammates, but he had a score to settle with that blonde girl who ended up beating him that other night.

And he was hoping she showed up tonight.

Jinx was the second oldest of the group. A normal fifteen year old highschool student before her metahuman powers manifested due to the particle accelerator explosion in Central city's S.T.A.R labs facility, she ran away from her home after everyone she knew shunned her as a freak. Now, six months later, she had gained a lot of control over her abilities and had been trained under H.I.V.E operatives in the academy.

In her six month tenure so far, she had made evident changes to her appearance. She had dyed her hair bright pink , tying them up in high ponytails along the sides of her head . She also wore a dank black color of clothing all the time , in order to distance herself from who she used to be. Now, she didn't care. All her hatred over her divorced parents who had shunned her had now manifested and she took it out on the innocent civilians that the team as rampaging on.

Then there was the youngest boy on the team, Gizmo.

A ten year old kid, he had no such troubled backstory as Jinx nor did he have any score to settle with anyone like Mammoth did. He just liked to flaunt his superior intellect and loved to create havoc.

He had been brought up in the H.I.V.E academy since childbirth and he had been told that he had no real parents. Standing at a height of five feet, he was easily the shortest on the group as well, but he usually made up for it by being the most destructive member on the team. Jinx usually restrained herself while mammoth needed instruction on what to do. But Gizmo just did what he did because it was fun.

Then there was the team leader, Ravager. She was the illegitimate daughter of Slade Wilson and Lillian, an woman who worked at a Brothel that Deathstroke happened to come across . One week together and nine months later , the cold shouldered , hot tempered daughter of the master mercenary was born.

Rose Wilson , unlike her three teammates, possessed no super power but she was easily the most deadliest of the four.

She possessed deadly swordmanship and skill at using weapons and was incredibly agile, spending many years under the brutal training of her father in the Tibetian mountains. Her mother had cast her away after she was born and her father had taken her in, making her a living weapon. She also possessed a deep grudge against the robin for 'killing' her father. Even she didn't know if he was truly dead but she hadn't seen the man since his attempt to takeover Ra'as Al Ghul's, place.

There had been rumblings that he had been the man who had almost torn apart the teen titans two years prior, but he never came back to her anyway.

The eighteen year old wore armored clothing in color coding similar to her fathers, with a burning orange of a mask with one eye hole that had an in built x-ray and heat vision scanner(thanks to gizmo) . She had heavy artillery shoulder pads protecting her . For the most part, her costume, while still armored, was a lot most leaner, sleeker and less bulky compared to her father's and it had a lost more dark blue in it.

Being the most calm and focused person in the group, she was the one tasked with retrieving the undisclosed chemical compound being housed in the facility, while her teammates kept the police distracted.

They were betting on the risk that their break in was a little too amateur for the Justice league to interfere.

But unbeknownst to her, a team of seven superpowered youngsters were closing in on the zone, which meant a threat to plans. And this was supposed to be a covert mission.

/

"There are three targets present ", Damian whispered as he switched off his infrared scanner.

He pulled off the hood from the top of his head and turned to the others, all of them crouched in the darkness on the rooftop of an apartment building , across from the S.T.A.R labs facility being robbed.

All of the titans had now changed into their costumes, except for Kara, who didn't have that luxury yet. She was still clad in her half sleeved sweatshirt, matched with sweatbands around her wrist . The only difference between this and her normal appearance was that she was wearing an emerald green face mask that Damian had given her from one of his own collection, in order to mask her identity.

"Four.", Kara simply stated as all of them turned their attention to her. She was determined not to mess up like she did last time.

"There are four of them. Three are outside makin all the noise and there's one who's inside the labs, in the detention facility. Female. ", Kara elaborated.

"So then these guys must be a distraction. We need to get inside and stop whoever is inside the lab. ", Kori instructed, being the team leader that she was.

"I may have a plan.", Damian smirked.

/

As Mammoth hauled up a tanker to throw at a nearby convenience store, a rapid whirring sound approached him and then, with a clink, something impaled the tanker he was holding above his head. Looking up, he grunted as he saw a razor sharp black blade shape like a robin. It had some sort of indicator that was blinking crimson. Slowly, the blinker quickened up and before Mammoth knew what was happening, the thing blew up, knocking the gargantuan off his feet as he lay, a little shaken from the explosion.

The next second, he felt a sharp nudge in his abdomen area and the the next thing he knew, he was flying backwards before he crashed into something green. When Mammoth's vision cleared out, he caught sight of a blonde girl wearing a distinct robin mask on her face hurtling towards him.

Thinking himself stronger, he stood up and began pacing forward with his fists raised and roaring before the blonde girl took him by surprise as she grabbed around his abdomen and shoved him back with surprising strength. She seemed to be his equal or maybe even more stronger than him. And there was only one other blonde girl he knew who was that strong.

"You.", mammoth croaked.

"Flattered that you recognized me. Looks like you've got an upgrade. ", Kara taunted.

"And you sound like you've figured out how to speak. ", she added with a snort.

"And I have a team with me to..", mammoth said before drifting off, seeing that his team was occupied as well. Jinx had Beastboy and Starfire keeping her busy and Gizmo had the blue beetle chasing his tail.

"I've got a team of my own. ", Kara retorted and just then, a transparent bright green casing enclosed around them, forming a holographic' large green cube that Kara and Mammoth were caged inside in now. Looking up, Mammoth caught sight of some guy in a green and black suit . He had created the holographic cube that had encased them from some ring on his finger.

"Minimal damage and maximum effort.", Kara said, cracking her knuckles with a smirk before she burst forward, making contact on mammoth's chin with her fist as the green lantern made sure their destructive fight stayed within the cube he had created.

/

Rose collected what she needed to and switched on the laser security system back on, to make it look like nothing was taken from the place during the scuffle outside.

"Team. Status report.", she spoke into her transmitter and when no reply came, she gritted her teeth. Idiots. The justice league must be here. She wanted to stay and help her team but she had one job . Deliver the package to their employer.

As she turned to leave, a whirring sound echoed through the air then, out of nowhere, a black ninja-blade, shaped somewhat like a bird, cut through the air stuck into the concrete at her feet. She only recognized it a bit too late and just as she managed to leap out of the way, the birdarang exploded, throwing her off balance as she hit the ground.

"Going somewhere?", a boy's voice called out through the smoke that had engulfed the place now.

Rose looked around and she finally found the source. A fifteen year old boy's silhouette walked out of the smoke, with a knee length long cap swishing behind him.

"Get out of the way or I'll cut you up.", Rose retorted out coarsely.

"I'd like to see you try.", Damian hissed with a snort as he twirled his Bo staff.

Just then, due to the smoke and fire from Damian's birdarang, the fire alarms went off and the sprinklers built on the ceilings got switched on, seconds before both of them were standing drenched in the water as the sprinkler doused the small flames caused.

As Damian caught a clear view of the assailant, his eyes widened in shock as he recognized that mask. Slade.

But it wasn't Slade either. It was some girl with silvery white long hair that stuck out from an orange and black mask distinctly designed to look like deathstroke.

As they stared at each other, she pocketed something into her utility belt.

"You're not him!", Damian called out, his tension and anger rising as he drew out the new retractable electric staff Bruce had designed for him. It didn't inflict permanent damage but it still did leave a punch if used to full charge. The weapon crackled with electricity as the poles of the staff when Damain switched it on.

She didn't say anything for a prolonged second as the fights continued outside.

"I presume that it's your team outside ?", the girl finally replied with a raspy voice.

Damian didn't reply but merely shifted his feet into a fighting stance , holding the staff ready. Whoever was wearing that mask was his enemy. That mask had killed his grandfather, tormented his new team, tormented him to the verge of dancing between justice and revenge.

Then she burst forward and the two of them were engaged in a rapid movement of strikes and blocks as Damian was being forced onto the backfoot, since he had no way of countering her blades without his own. All he could do was block her strikes and even he had to admit that this girl was extremely skilled, almost as if she was trained by the shadows . But that was impossible. As far as he knew, he was the only child to have grown up under the shadows strict regimens.

"AARRRGH!", she roared and cut at his bicep, slicing it clearly.

Damain shot her with an electrical blast from his staff and leapt back , holding his wound to stop the blood flow.

"Who the hell are you?!", he yelled, his frustration at seeing Slade's mask clouding his focus.

"None of your business ,boy wonder.", she hissed coarsely and the two dashed forward yet again.

/

Kara was landing repetitive blows on Mammoth as Kyle watched. He felt slightly useless, acting simply as the cage to stop Kara's fight from destroying the block. But he had to admit, she seemed to have a lot of pent up frustration, since she was going in hard on the poor guy in the cage that Kyle had formed from his ring.

The box that Kyle had created was open at the top and Kara exploited this, by grabbing onto a lock of Mammoth's hair and leaping skywards. She may not be able to fly, but she could still jump higher than any other person she knew.

Once high enough, she let go of Mammoth and clasped her hands together before slamming down hard onto his chest, sending him plummeting back to the floor of the projection Kyle created. Upon impact, the surface of the green cube cracked a little, forcing Kyle to strain himself as he focused on maintaining his concentration.

"Hey ! Go a little easy on the smashin and bashin!", he chided to which she smirked coolly. She was feeling much better having a export port to vent out her frustrations at.

She zipped forward, a blur, before she grabbed onto a disoriented Mammoth and hoisted him above her head, which Impressed Kyle, who was the only one watching, since the others were busy.

Then, Kara dropped the guy on his head and grasped onto his legs and swung him around, crashing him headfirst into the other end of the cage and she only stopped when she saw that the guy had finally gotten knocked out. But unlike last time, Mammoth didn't revert back to his original form but rather stayed as he was. Whatever thing he had joined, they had made sure he would stay as the tonne of muscle and not the scrawny kid he really was.

Turning around , both of them saw Jaime returning with Gizmo trapped inside some black vice grip formed by Raven. Jinx was trapped under a large piece of concrete on which Garfield(now an elephant) stood, blowing his nose hard in victory. Jinx had to use her spells to hold up the weight so in a manner of speaking, she was trapped.

There was still no news from Damian , however.

/

With a slash, the girl kept pressing down on Damian. He cursed his father for forcing him to work with a stupid staff instead of his blades. They were a lot more effective than this piece of junk.

Then, she dashed forward and began slicing the air, trying to get at him but Damian managed to duck and weave out of just in time.

Seeing an opening, he burst forth, confusing the girl momentarily as to what he was doing. Then, he dropped down and kicked her out from under her feet. He simultaneously grabbed onto one of her swords that she had dropped in the fall.

"Why do wear that mask!?", he demanded, holding the edge of the sword close to her throat, while his free hand held onto the wound on his arm, stopping the blood from gushing out.

She didn't say anything. One blue iris from the mask stared at him with an unreadable expression.

Then, in a flash, she dropped some device and there was a bang, before the entire room was covered in smoke.

Damian was forced to hold back and cover his face with his cape , coughing. As the smoke cleared, she was gone. along with whatever she was stealing.

" _Fzzt..Robin. The situation outside has stabilized. Police are on their way. What's your status_?", Jaime's voice buzzed out from his receiver.

They all had done their job. And he had let the main target get away. He had failed. He had grown complacent. He had lost focus.

"Target got away.".

/

The team was silent. on the way back to Titan Tower

Kara felt good about herself for being able to control her power and take down Mammoth without any collateral damage. Of course, Kyle had formed a protective barrier but still, she did it.

Damian seemed pretty bummed out though. He had returned with his target getting away .

He sat on the left corner of the transparent incandescent green plane that Kyle managed to create from his ring.

Damian's bicep was bandaged and his other arm was still over the hilt of the sword he had taken from the female masked seemed to be brooding even more than usual. He sat there, staring at the engraved hilt .

Raven was at the back of the plane, hovering in a meditation pose, deep in her thoughts, murmuring.

Kara had an inkling that whoever had bailed out Mammoth just a few days after he was put behind bars would bail out the team again, but they had still stopped them from causing any more havoc. And she had helped, without causing any public damage. Maybe she was finally getting a hang on this 'superhero' thing.

She couldn't wait to tell Clark.

* * *

"So what do you think that thing is?", Hal inquired coolly, leaning back in his chair, throwing up his arms behind the back of his head and yawning .

The league, well most of them anyway, were at the headquarter building at the S.T.A.R labs facility in Metropolis. The android they had found in the African desert had been quarantined and they couldn't transport it to the watchtower either, without Government officials questioning their actions. Steve Trevor thought it better that the public not know that an alien robot creature had entered the planet, giving off cryptic messages that were yet to be deciphered.

"It isn't clear yet. The computer analysis shows that it has biological DNA in the sample extracted but there are also signs of an unidentified nerve impulse running through the body and the brain has been shut down. Until I can gather more conclusive evidence, my only guess is that it's some sort of extraterrestrial mechanical life form that held onto a human host to survive. ", Bruce replied as he typed in a code to bypass the compressor units .

"What ever this thing is..I'm not taking any chances. We keep it under watch at all times. Take turns. ", Clark said sternly as he gazed at the android ,his arms folded . He stood inches away, giving the thing a threatening glare, as if he didn't like it or something.

The thing was walking around the cylindrical glass cage that it was being held in ,in an unnerving manner, muttering to itself in an alien dialect of clicks and beeps.

"Will it hold him?", Diana whispered as she walked up next to Clark.

"It's double layered shatter proof glass enforced casing. It was built to hold me . Back when everyone thought I was a god like monster out to destroy the world. ", Clark replied.

"By the way...", Diana began when Clark was about to turn and walk away.

"Happy birthday.", she said.

The room was dead silent. Everyone, including Bruce was watching the two of them had a surprised look on his face.

"H-how did you know? I never told you before. ", He managed to croak out.

"And why didn't you?We've been together for four years now.", Diana retorted with a smirk.

"I ...Well...We were always on some mission or something so I never bothered to bring it up.", he replied, feeling a little embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I..have a little birthday present for 's not much but I hope you like it.", Diana began as Clark rocked an eye.

"Uh... What are you...?", Clark began .

"I've never celebrated a birthday that much before, well.. and I was told you give the person what he wants the most. What you couldn't get by yourself. So I began to think..what does Superman want the most but can't have?", Diana continued with a smile.

"And then I realized. My birthday gift to you is time. ", Diana replied smartly, confusing the man of steel.

"Time? I don't understand.", Clark replied, still not understanding the amazonian princess .

"I've asked our teammates to handle things for us for a while. So..at least for a couple of days, you don't have to go flying around saving the world. You can do what _Clark Kent_ wants to do. That is my gift to you.", Diana replied with a sense of finality.

Clark was left speechless. He didn't know what to say. He hadn't had anyone celebrate his birthday since Ma and Pa kent were killed by that drunk driver years ago. He felt a warm fuzzy feeling inside him that he had long thought gone.

"Diana..I..", he croaked but she shushed him.

"Happy birthday.", she simply stated with a smile.

They both gazed into each others eyes silently for a prolonged moment before they began to lean in to kiss.

At least until they were interrupted by Hal who cleared his throat with an amused look.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hey now. Get a room people. We've got important league of Justice business to take care of here. ", he scoffed, feeling awkward.

"Uh..Hal..It's not the _League of Justice._.Actually it's _The Justice League.",_ Barry corrected him,earning him a distasteful glare from the Green Lantern.

"I am not accustomed to how you celebrate occasions here on Earth but I am aware that you celebrate the day you are born. Congratulations, Superman.", J'onn added, walking to him to shake his hand.

"Uhh..Thanks..", Clark replied, shaking his hand. It was evident that J'onn was unaware that you don't necessarily _congratulate_ someone on their birthday.

Clark and Diana then headed out the corridor and vanished from view around the bend.

"Well that was totally not awkward. Why Can't I have an amazonian super girlfriend who cares about me like that?", Hal whined , to which Barry chortled.

"You don't even mentor your own protege' who happens to be your responsibility . How do you expect anyone to take you seriously?", Barry chortled, offending Hal.

"Hey! I can be pretty serious If I want to, got that , red?".

"Why did you not congratulate you friend, Batman?", J'onn inquired , causing Barry and Hal to stop their bickering and stare. They wanted to hear what the brooding Batman had to say to this.

"I was the one who told Diana of his birthday.", he added in his drawling voice.

Of course the batman had a logical reason for his actions.

Unnoticed by all the others, the android herald had finally finished transmitting the coordinates to his maker . The coordinates to the Kryptonian ,who was the one specimen that eluded the collection.

* * *

Deep in the vast expanses of space , no sound could be heard. But the dull clunking of mecha-droids prepping the outer scout ships could be felt .Space, being a vacuum , did not carry sound waves but the ripples caused by it could be felt for light years away.

A fleet of scout ships were syncing to the coordinates being transmitted by one of the heralds.

The main ship was a massive structure of a metallic substance not yet recorded on the periodic table, with dozens of thought controlled mecha arms dancing out from the bottom half of the ship. Each arm was longer than a twenty storied skyscraper. The pincer like appendages at the tip of each arm clinked and clunked as they opened and shut, weaving the ship forward through the vast expanse at a slow pace.

The large ship was shaped like a massive, oval shaped skull, with bright silvery and crimson lights whirring from various exit ports along the top of it's crest. The main control area of the ship was located to the top , at the near front, like the cockpit of an aircraft.

There was not a single moving biological creature on board the ship. The only thing that moved were the dozens of androids which were probes that had taken hold of host bodies , walking mindlessly around, doing the bidding of the one that controlled them. But there were living beings on the ship as well,of course. Whole cities, shrunk to the size that can be fitted into one of the mini globes you could buy at one of those stationary stores.

The citizens of these trapped cities were part of the collection, no longer existing in the galaxy. Once they had been taken from their planet, they had to watch as the one controlling the ship, whoever or whatever it was, decimated their planet out of existence by vaporizing their sun.

Purple amniotic sacs containing the bodies of analyzed specimens lined the silvery inside walls of the ship in a symmetrical arrangement, like an eerily shaped design of sorts.

A few of the mecha-probes were analyzing some of the newly collected test specimens, with metallic fluid tubes inserted deep down their oesophaguses, collecting body fluid data while a mechanical arm ran a green holoscanner onto their unconscious faces, analyzing brain data and recording their specimen information.

This was done as soon as a new world was collected, so that the knowledge from the being would be uploaded to the mainframe to be accessed by the collector of worlds. He would receive every data of information they knew and he would know everything there was to know about their worlds.

Knowledge was the greatest power .

Just then, one of the Specimens's eyes flickered open and the Duomalian Green Lantern ,that had been recovered from a wreckage in sector one-eight-three- two ,shot out a transparent expanding wall of lantern energy that decimated the probes around her. Coughing out a thick purple liquid that was her blood , she pulled out the data probe from her throat and staggered to her feet , too weak from the experience of having her brainwaves drained from her.

Seeing a couple of the armed probes advancing on her, she shot out blasts of green energy that wrecked an entire battalion of the dozen at a time. She was too weak to even will herself to her full power.

There were too many of them and she was too weak to fight them all without harming the innocent specimens and collected worlds in the were too many lives at risk for her to try and simply explode the ship. She had only one thing she could do. Flee and get reinforcements from the corps.

Making up her mind, the Duomalian blanketed herself in a thin outline of green effervescent light and slowly turned to rise up and find a way out of the ship. But she let her guard down to fast.

The moment the outnumbered green lantern turned her back around, one pincer-like mechanical arm extended out from the ceiling and shot towards her. She could only scream as the thing wrapped itself around the weak lantern. Her ring also had most of it's energy drained trying to keep her alive .

Then, it happened in a flash. The pincer like arm crushed her internal organs , her screams growing louder and shriller and then the lantern moved no more. Her hand limp, the lantern uniform began to fade away and her ring began to glow brighter until it slipped off her finger and shot out to return back to Oa , unnoticed by the mecha bots, who were just concerned with getting the deceased specimen stored.

/

The main control room was a spacious trapezium shaped hall, with glowing purple symmetrical designs running around the silvery floor. This was the one room where there were no mecha bots or droids.

There wide see-through membranes through which the occupant of the hall could see the path ahead of the ship.

Domes of glass the size of an average shoe-box encased the many worlds that had been collected . These cities lined the hall, attached to silvery metallic appendages that dropped down from the ceiling of the vast hall.

Nothing moved or made a sound except for the low humming of electrical impulses and a rhythmic beeping noise that was transmitting the message from one of it's heralds that had been sent to sector two-one-eight-four. A herald was one of it's most powerful products and most deadliest legions. It had a battle droids ferocity and the ability of a mecha droid to attach itself onto a host body, making it easily portable and efficient in exploring new worlds to collect.

There was just one being in the entire hall , encased in a cylindrical structure of prosthetic metal that stuck out from the floor.

A glowing oval shaped device that was lowered from a hatch in the ceiling had tentacles..or metallic cords that hung down from it.

The intertwining cords connected into the many ports that emitted purple light sticking out along the being's head ,constantly feeding it information and knowledge in the form of electrical data.

The being had an eeiry emerald green skin , with no apparent texture at all. It didn't even have a proper odor.

This... _thing_ lacked any form of hair on it's body and it's eyes were a sunken black shades under it's slightly protruding forehead.

The odor in the hall was indescribable , for there was no odor to describe of, just like the being encased within the pillar.

Then, all of a sudden, the rhythmic beeping of the relayed transmission from the herald ceased and simultaneously, the being's eyes flickered open, a glowing crimson red that would terrify anyone present.

A Kryptonian Specimen has been located.

* * *

 **That's all for this chapter folks! And before anyone says anything, the DC animated universe follows the new 52 timeline and at least in the comics, in the new 52, Ma and Pa Kent are already passed . So I decided to stick to it. I also added a few characters from the tv show but I changed up their origins a bit to fit my story . And the H.I.V.E people will come into play later on after the first story arc(first story arc focuses on Kara getting her powers right). And as for the slight fluffiness between Supes and wonderwoman, that was almost the exact dialogue taken from one of the comics, so Clark and Lois fans, don't hate me for it! And thanks for reading my story. Please leave any constructive criticisms and any suggestions are welcome.**

 **Until next time!**


	6. Chapter 6- Terrors

**Author's note :** **In my story, Bart Allen is Kid flash ,not Wally West, since I know a lot of my friends who are wally and Artemis shippers...I don't intend on bringing Artemis into this story. Anyway, as always, please leave any suggestions. Constructive criticism is welcome and hope you enjoy reading !**

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Six - Terrors**

* * *

"Wow I never knew Chineshe food wush dish good!", Kara mumbled with a mouthful of Chinese noodles as she picked at her carton with the chopsticks.

"I told ya. I've loved this stuff ever since my neighbor introduced me to this back when I was ten. ", Kyle grinned, wolfing down his own share.

"How come you've never tried this stuff?", Kyle inquired, a little curious.

"We jusht took what we got back at the orphanage. No shtick around for chooshing, ya loshe what ya got in ya plate in the firsht plashe. ", Kara snorted.

It was midday, almost one in the afternoon .

The two of them, along with Damian, were alone in the tower as the rest of their teammates were out on routine training maneuvers with Batman and the Flash. Two days ago, Bruce had suddenly turned up at the tower with some training program that he had devised up to keep the titans in good shape , to prep them for any possible threat.

The team had been split into to squadrons, with team one consisting of Garfield, Jaime and Raven while team two consisted of Kyle, Damian and Kara. Kori would go with both teams since she was the leader and hence the supervisor of the team progress.

Bruce apparently thought it important for the young team to learn to work cohesively as a unit so that they can increase effectiveness in results. Kara felt slightly funny, feeling like she was in some sort of military boot camp or something.

She and Kyle were in the common room of the tower, wolfing down on some Chinese take outs that Kori had ordered them before she left with the other three. The brooding boy wonder ,however, was nowhere to be seen. He had grown increasingly irritable since their run in with the H.I.V.E operatives and Kara had seen him training a lot more than she used to. He even trained a lot more than she did with her flying .

Just then, Kyle let out an involuntary burp, which caused Kara to look at him with a cocked eyebrow.

Feeling slightly embarrassed , Kyle rubbed the back of his head apologetically.

"I'm sorry . I didn't feel it comi-",he sputtered before he was cut off by Kara, who let out a much louder burp, which caused him to stare at her with a dumbstruck expression. Usually girls just acted disgusted of such stuff or just remained indifferent about it, like Raven.

Feeling a little more at ease when she smirked at him from her victorious burp, he slammed the side of his fist against his chest , letting out an even louder burp. Kara cracked her knuckles accepting the challenge and rolled her palms into fists before she let out a burp so volatile that it literally blew some of Kyle's hair off his face. She won the burping contest.

Both of them simply stared at each other at the stupidity of the moment and burst out laughing.

"Oh man..That was awesome. If only Bart were here . He's the burping champion among us. You actually may be able to take him on. ", Kyle chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye as he sipped on his soda.

"Where is he...exactly?", Kara inquired, her curiosity perked up at the one teen titan that she was yet to meet, Bart Allen, the Kid flash.

"Well. I'm not exactly sure but he left with Nightwing and Cyborg on some mission to the south pacific. I'm actually surprised that they got him to keep his mouth shut about the mission. He holds the record for the guy who can recant all the alphabets the most number of times in a minute. Seriously. The guy can't go one second without speaking!", Kyle exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air to emphasize his point.

Just then, Kara heard footsteps two floors below and the sound of a door closing shut. Damian was finished with his sword training.

"Hey, I'm gonna go check up on brooding boy wonder. You wanna come with?", Kara inquired, her curiosity bugging her about what Damian was possibly ding that he preferred to do instead of hanging out with his teammates.

"Nah. I'd rather watch some television. The game's on today anyway. ", Kyle waved her off, yawning and moving towards the white couch before slouching on it lazily. "I never get the remote at this time of the day. Garfield usually has his animal tv shows that he likes to watch.", Kyle added, flicking though the channels.

"Okay. See ya later.".

* * *

Knocking on his room door, Damian Wayne did not answer. So he wasn't there. Usually you would hear the normal dosage of snappy remarks from the fifteen year old.

Using her X- ray vision, she spotted his figure walking almost three floors down, to where she recognized was the garage where Kori parked her van. She also noticed that he seemed to be carrying the sword belonging to that masked female assailant with him.

Wondering what he was up to, Kara hurried down the stairs to follow him.

/

Once in the garage, she quietly snuck up behind Damian and hid behind Kori's van as he walked briskly towards a very sleek looking motorbike that Kara honestly thought looked cool. Jaime had told her that it belonged to Dick Grayson and it was what he used when on a mission as Nightwing.

Nightwing was not a regular member of the titans but he does join the team on important missions or other stuff. He usually spent his days in Bludhaven, apparently.

The bike could fit two people on it and it seemed to be custom made, no doubt by the Batman himself. It was mostly black and grey in color, with navy blue streaks running in parallel patterns along the motorcycle's streamlined body.

Suddenly, Damian, with his hand on the bike seat paused and let out a sigh.

" I know you're there, Zor-El. Don't waste your energy trying to hide. ", Damian simply stated with a bored voice as he swung his leg over the bike and sat down on it.

He may be fifteen, but he still lacked a little in the height department, for he had to stretch his legs to their fullest length to be able to straddle himself fully on the motorcycle.

Kara stood up from her hiding position and walked over, her hands on her hips with a cocked eyebrow.

"Where are you supposed to be going?", Kara asked hotly.

"I don't need to tell you everything . So get back to wasting your productive time lounging around the tower with Rayner.", Damian said, brushing her off.

As he clicked on the remote to open the garage door, the sixteen year old blonde girl walked over and stood straight in his path.

"Move out of the way or I'll have to run you over, Zor-El. ", Damian simply stated, revving the engine of the motorcycle.

"You can try. But you'll have to explain to Nightwing how you destroyed his vehicle by crashing it into a sixteen year old girl.", Kara retorted, a challenging smirk on her face.

Both of them stared at each other with furrowed eyebrows for a moment. Damian finally decided that it was not worth his time and energy to keep arguing with this impulsive girl.

"Fine. What do you want, Zor-El?", Damian groaned.

"I wanna know where you're going.", Kara repeated, smiling victoriously.

"I'm going to the hall of Justice to get this sword scanned. I need to know who the owner was. The facilities her are inadequate for my investigation and my father's cave is too far away .", Damian replied, an irritated look on his face.

"Oh. Cool. Then I wanna come with you. ", Kara replied.

"What makes you think I'll take you there?", Damian scoffed, folding his hands across his chest.

At this, Kara cracked her knuckles with a challenging smirk.

"Because If you don't, I'll break this motorcycle in half so you won't be able to leave this building. Got it, Short stack?", Kara retorted, taking Damian by surprise.

After a moment of intense glaring, Damian finally gave in, deciding it more important to him to find out about the assailant than to keep wasting his time with the Krptonian.

"Fine.",he groaned.

Kara walked over with a victorious smile to sit behind him on the motorcycle.

" I'm not letting you sit behind me. You'd be too much of a baggage.", he snarked. Kori glared at him .

"Hey, I may have super strength but I'm not overweight.", Kara scoffed, glaring at the fifteen year old Wayne.

"Whatever. We use the Tamaranean's van.",Damian chided, waving her off.

"Too slow. Hows-a-bout we just take Kyle along and go in one of his lantern plane thingies. Much faster .", Kara suggested nonchalantly.

"Whatever. Let's just get going.I want to get this done before the others return.", Damian scoffed as the two of them headed back upstairs to recruit in their teammate.

* * *

They had been at the Hall of Justice for almost twenty minutes now and Damian hadn't said a word, his eyes fixed on the blue holoscreen that was analyzing the bronze hilted sword he had run scan on .

Surprisingly enough, none of he staff was efficient or alert when the Justice league was out of office. Honestly, the only staff they both had come across on their way in was an old Janitor listening to music on his blue headphones.

Kyle had gotten bored while Damian scanned the sword and he had wandered off , exploring the place. Kara stayed behind with Damian.

"How'd you figure that no one would be here?",Kara perked up, feeling slightly bored as he sat down in the chair next to Damian.

"Father is out on training with the others. I've noticed that the staff here tends to slack and lose efficiency when none of the league is present. Plus, the league doesn't really care for this place. It's just their base of operations on Earth. Their real headquarters is the Watchtower.", Damian said nonchalantly.

Kara cocked an eyebrow. She had no idea what the hell he had just said.

"Uhm..What's a watchtower?", she inquired, evidently not catching on.

Damian glanced at her as if he was looking at the class idiot.

"It's the giant class fourteen-E Satellite that orbits the planet. It's where the League's real base of operations is. This place is more like a public appeaser. A distraction for criminals ,if you will . So that no more questions are raised. The people merely think the watchtower is like a training facility or some place that keeps watch for possible threats , completely unaware of it's true purpose. You really didn't know that?", Damian asked, actually sounding surprised about this.

"No. Superman never got around to telling me this stuff. ", Kara mumbled, crossing her arms and looking away in annoyance. She couldn't talk to her cousin either, since he had disappeared with his girlfriend, on birthday vacation or something.

/

Kyle gazed around, amazed at the state of the art technology these guys stored.

Despite being a green lantern, he had never visited this building. Mainly because his mentor, Hal Jordan never bothered to bring him here. The guy was just like his father, an unreliable man who dumps their responsibility onto others.

Shaking off such thoughts, Kyle turned a corner with a 'restricted access' holoscreen projected on.

There was a single metal sliding door in the lonesome corridor . He curiously peeked through the glass window on the door. Nobody seemed to be home. He saw a hand scanner on a panel next to the door and pressed down on it, crossing his fingers for luck. But the computer rejected him displaying a warning signal. Then, he had a brainwave and he switched on his Green lantern form and pressed down on it yet again.

This time, much to his surprise, the computer registered him as the 'Green Lantern' and the thick metal door slid open, exposing Kyle to the cold temperatures within. It felt like somebody forgot to switch off the air conditioner in the room.

Glancing around, he saw the entire room was mostly vacant, with a few black metal chairs here and there,unoccupied and there was one cylindrical ...something in the middle of the circular room. The floors of the room was made of reinforced metal and the ceiling was transparent. There were also at least seven surveilence holoscreen monitors stacked at one corner of the room.

Still in his lantern uniform, he turned around until his eyes landed on the cylinder container in the middle of the room. It was as wide as his room back at the titan's tower and the floor of the containment cylinder was pure white, brightly lit. It's outer casing was made of a thick material of transparent glass and within it was some repulsive looking humanoid metal creature.

There was no way it was of earth, since he could distinctly hear it clicking and beeping in some extra terrestrial sounded as if it was some form of morse code.

Despite being a Green lantern, a new recruit lantern too, he had never seen the likes of this thing before.

His curiosity perked up, the seventeen year old slowly edged closer.

The thing was too busy muttering in incoherent clicks and beeps that it didn't register him in the room.

When he was merely two feet away from the glass container, the android's crimson eyes suddenly lit up, staring directly at him and it burst forward at Kyle, sending the seventeen year old reeling back in shock. It banged at the glass before the electricity in the container conducted onto it, restraining it, sending it reeling backwards .

"Holy mother of megazon...", Kyle muttered, gasping and recovering from his shock.

His lantern form evaporated and Kyle Rayner in his casual clothing stood in the room with the android herald.

As he watched it, it suddenly looked up at him .

" _He_..*^*#!.. _.Is_ *^^#*%.. _.Coming_...", the thing droned in a crude and incoherent speech pattern . It was evident that thing had just begun to pick up the human dialect.

Just then, Kyle heard the distinct sound of speech from one of the camera monitors behind and his heart began to race when he spotted Batman, the Martian manhunter, Hal Jordan, The flash and Kori storming up the entrance of the building. They had found out that the three titans were missing from the tower. Shit.

Why'd they all have to come together as if this was some fan committee or something?

He had to warn his friends.

Kyle hurriedly zapped back his lantern form and rushed out of the room, not noticing the request for the lockdown mechanism by the computer of the room. He had left the room open by mistake.

/

It was now well over two hours since the two of them got to the Headquarters and Kara was growing more and more restless, for she began to impatiently tap her heel to the ground rapidly.

Then , a thought perked up in her head to try and spark up a conversation .

"So. How long have you and Raven been a item?", Kara asked .

She could swear she saw him blush in the slightest. Or maybe it was just the lighting in the room.

" Where did you hear that?",Damian demanded, turning to her in annoyance.

"Garfield told me. And he didn't even have to. I mean... I found it pretty obvious, you guys always doing stuff at the you're a lot more docile than your usual arrogant self around her. ", Kara teased him.

He didn't say anything, simply turned back around and began to type something onto the keyboard.

Just then, a thought hit Kara like a fire truck.

"Hold up... Do you...feel embarrassed when I talk about you and Raven?", Kara asked with a humorous edge and when he didn't say anything,Kara burst out laughing.

"Oh my god! You do! The arrogant,rude son of Batman gets shy about his relationship ! ", Kara chortled.

"Drop it.", Damian simply stated, brushing past her wasn't going to cave in so soon. This was gold!

"This is huge! I can't wait to tell the others! ",kara teased him rocking back and forth in her chair, laughing.

"You carry forward this topic anymore, Zor-El and I assure you, there are a thousand ways I can use Kryptonite to kill you. _Thousands_ **.** ", Damian hissed at her.

"Okay. Okay. No need to get all touchy-feely about it. I'll keep it a secret. But now I know how to beat the almighty Robin!",Kara giggled at him.

"You wanna keep you mouth shut, Kryptonian? You're becoming a real pain in my butt. I'm here to get work done.", Damian chided at her and just then, the computer beeped , displaying the result of his search.

But the display was not showing any person as Kara had thought he was searching for. It was some run down , derelict pagoda-like structure in a snowy mountain area. Looking to her side, she saw the shock written on Damian's face.

"What is it?", she asked quietly, confused as to what was going on.

"It's the place where I was born. Where my grandfather trained me. It's also the place where the sword was made. That assailant was most likely trained here. But..how? I was the only child to ever have been trained by my grandfather. This doesn't make any sense.", Damian said and for the first time, he actually looked confused.

"How are you so sure that your assailant was our age? You did tell us she was wearing a mask. ", Kara said as a matter of fact.

Damian threw her an irritated glare.

"I am yet to gather conclusive evidence on that front but I knew. She moved way too fast and she body language acted more like someone in youth than an adult would. ", Damian said as he uploaded the data displayed on the holoscreen onto his USB drive.

"Wow. You can actually tell all that stuff by just looking at a person's body language? What does my body language tell you?", Kara asked , staring at him as if daring him to say something.

He ran his eyes up and down her body, sizing her up.

"You tend to get rather impatient very quickly, telling me that you are a hot-headed female who doesn't like to sit back and let things happen. You are also pretty reckless and impulsive, which I can use to my advantage in a fight. Your muscular build points out that you're a lot a more physical in antics and I can use psychological manipulation to win any fight with you. The way you carry yourself signifies that you don't like being helped and want to prove that you can take care of yourself. Though you almost all the time end up needing help from someone in one way or the other. ", Damian said without losing a breath.

"I am not impulsive! And I can take care of myself, when I have I needed anyone's help? ", Kara scoffed, an offended look on her face.

Damian ignored her . He finished uploading the data and stood up , walking towards the sword.

"I need more proof for my investigation and more advanced computers if I am to track down the owner of this sword. I'm going to the Gotham. You and Rayner should head back to the tower. ".

Just then, the doors were blasted open and a very perturbed looking Kyle Rayner flew into the room in his lantern form.

"They...are..They're back. They're need to get out of here now.", Kyle panted as he switched off his lantern form.

But before either of Kara and Damian could react, the doors were blasted open yet again and this time, there stood the Flash , followed by the rest of the adult superheros clad in all their suited up glory.

"Uh...Heh-Heh...Hey there, guys..funny bumping into you here...", Kara chuckled awkwardly with an unsure expression.

/

Damian stood stoic as ever, without even flinching a little.

Kara noticed that Kyle seemed to be actively ignoring the other Green lantern in the room, Hal Jordan.

"What are you three doing here?", Bruce said in an emotionless tone. Kori, on the other hand, rather distraught.

"Where were you guys? You can't just vanish without telling me where you went! We were so worried ! What if somebody had attacked you?!", she olive skinned alien huffed.

"Thank you for your concern. But as you can see, father, we are all right. I had also made sure that no one would get in to the tower while we were away. I had switched the automative security protocol systems online. So I assure you, the facility was safeguarded. ", Damian said, reflecting his father's emotionless stance.

"And Kara, how could you just vanish like that? How do you think I'd feel if I had to face superman and tell him that I lost you while he had entrusted you to my watch?", Kori continued.

"Oh yeah? Well, you don't have to stress you hair. He's never around anyway. He's too busy jetting around the world with wonder goddess to give me a second.", Kara snorted, crossing her arms.

"Okay...This is getting awkward..", Barry muttered under his breath.

Then, Hal Jordan stepped up, turning to his protege with a determined face.

"And you. You're supposed to be one of the corps. We hold a responsibility. How do you expect me to face the guardians and tell them that you turned out to be less than ideal of a lantern under my supervision? You're supposed to be the responsible one of your group.", Hal reprimanded.

At this comment, Kyle,who had been quiet until now, shot his mentor a filthy glare.

"Supervision? What supervision you talkin about? You've done nothing to guide me in my induction process. Kilowog was a better mentor to me. And I've learnt more about my ring from fiddling around with it than I did under your guidance. I don't even know why the ring chose me. I'm not as fearless as a lantern is supposed to be. It was your job to explain this stuff to me. So you don't get to come at me like that and talk about responsibility, Jordan. Buzz off!", Kyle blasted at the adult green lantern, leaving everyone shocked.

He then turned and flew out of the room without another word. Kara followed him out.

Batman then turned to his son with a stoic expression.

"Damian. We need to talk.".

Damian didn't argue. He knew his father was not a pathetic excuse of a mentor like some of the others were. He had managed to fend of Trigon's demons three years ago while the others of the league had succumbed. He would listen to what his father had to say.

He also didn't say it, but he felt sorry for his two was too busy saving other that he didn't get enough free time with his sister and Hal Jordan was worse of a role model, from the looks of it, than Damian's own mother was.

"Dude. You gotta build a better relationship with your kid.", Barry whispered to Hal, who huffed at him.

"That guy is not my kid! Get of my case ,pal!", Hal scoffed .

"Yeesh. Glad you didn't bring _you-know-who_?", Barry whispered to J'onn.

"Indeed.", the green martian agreed quietly, after seeing the outburst of tantrums from the teenaged superheros.

/

One of the old Janitors, Stan, was following his daily schedule, mopping the eastern sector of the building, his navy blue headphones blanketing his ears, blocking out all sounds .His day shift was almost up

"Hey, Stan! Don't go anywhere near the fourteenth sector. You're just gonna cause a whole lotta mess fer my department by settin off those goddamn alarm systems! I'm in no mood to spend time with the bat.", one of the supervisors yelled coarsely from across the hall, before turning and walking off to finish his report, muttering incoherently under his breath.

Stan waved impatiently to show that he had heard , but in reality, he heard not even a single syllable of what his supervisor had said. He didn't give a damn. His day shift was over in ten minutes and he was heading to the convenience store to pick up some supplies before heading home for the weekend.

He sighed and dipped the mop stick into the green bucket and wheeled it forward , past the alarm trigger point without realizing no alarm rang. Kyle Rayner had unknowingly left the security systems offline when he had gone in there earlier and had no idea that a locking mechanism needed to be deployed manually to close the containment unit up properly.

Hence, Stan only realized where he was standing after he had already mopped the silvery metal floors of the room for around two prolonged minutes.

Cursing under his breath, he turned to leave when he jumped back in fright, catching sight of the metallic skinned android creature staring at him from it's cylindrical glass prison, it's crimson eyes fixated on the old man.

His grey,beefy mustache quivering, Stan readjusted his green staff hat and edged closer to the containment cell wondering what this thing was.

He had heard of the league bringing in some robot alien from the crash site but he didn't actually believe it to be true.

Baffled, the seventy year old poozer placed his hand on the glass containment unit.

Just then, the creature within dropped it's crimson gaze to the lock unit on the left hand side of the control panel. The panel was touchscreen and the screen was blinking red rhythmically , indicating that the cell was locked. Looking back at the android in the cell, Stan knew better than to let it loose but it began to open it's mouth and speak words.

"What?...I..I can't hear ya.", Stan simply mumbled ,slightly terrified of the creature.

He was already way past the staff limit on entering this unit but hey, what the league didn't know, won't hurt them.

Curious as to what the metal android was speaking, Stan's hand slowly edged toward the control panel and before the logical side of his brain could warn him, the old man unlocked the unit, using his staff key card,which the computer registered.

A puff of smoke escaped the cell when the door slid open. Stan back pedaled , horrified at what he had done. What the hell was he thinking. Now he was really deep into this shit.

The metal android clicked and beeped before it rotated it's neck, as if it was stretching it. Then, it's crimson eyes looked directly at the figure of the old man who was lying on the floor in fright at letting the alien loose.

"...**## _You have done a great service, Human._ ", it simply stated in a synthetic voice .

As Stan looked at the creature curiously, the thing shot it's hand forward, straight through Stan's chest . The old man's eyes widened in shock at what had happened. He tried to scream but no voice left his mouth in the terror that had gripped his body in his last seconds.

" _You will serve the master._ ", the android herald hissed, it's silvery humanoid head glaring straight into the old Janitor's eyes as Stan felt something cold and hard spreading inside him.

Stan felt his eyes dimming and his brain going numb. He couldn't control his body motions anymore. His nerve signals began to go haywire. He began to loose feeling of his body.

The android herald had injected the old janitor with Virus Probe, one that would take control of the host's body from within, killing their consciousness and turning them into less lethal metallic versions of the android herald itself.

In the Stratosphere of the earth, on the borderline between the earth's atmospheric blanket and the vast expanse of space, approximately six million kilometers from ground level, off the coast of Gotham bay, a giant portal opened up and silvery and metallic Scout ships began to pour out in numbers. He was here.

/

Kyle was sitting outside on the front steps, waiting for his friends . It was getting late now and the sun in the sky had slowly begun to set into the horizon of concrete buildings.

Kara walked up and sat down next to him.

She had no idea that the guy's relationship with his mentor was strained to this extent.

At least for her, Clark actually tried to spend time with her. She actually didn't blame her cousin for vanishing off the earth with Diana. Even though Kara was Clark's cousin and family, the man of steel had known wonder woman longer than he knew his cousin sister. And he had even come along by the tower to ask if she wanted to come with them, to which she denied, feeling it awkward to spend time with the two of them, who would obviously do other kinds of stuff that Kara wanted no part of.

"Hey so ...what's up with you and Hal Jordan? ",Kara asked quietly.

Kyle let out a sigh.

"It's not really the guy's fault...I mean..He isn't responsible for this ring to choose me. The guardians basically just appointed him as my mentor for the sole reason of us being from the same sector. He just kinda reminds me of my dad a lot. ", Kyle said, rubbing the green block of a ring on his middle finger.

"What about your dad?", Kara asked, her interest perked up.

"He..was an asshole..To put it nicely. ", Kyle began scornfully.

"He banged up my mom when they were in highschool and abandoned her when they found out that she was pregnant with me. Never seen him since.",Kyle continued. Kara nodded.

"My mom had to drop out of school to look after me. She had to give up her dream of becoming a dancer. She had to work double shifts at odd jobs to support me growing 's actually a surprise she didn't have to resort to becoming a stripper to earn enough cash. ", Kyle snorted scornfully.

"I tried to help her as much as I could by working as a freelance artist for while before the guy who wore this ring previously, Salaak the brave, crashed near an old warehouse I used to do my work in.", Kyle continued.

"He said this ring chose me, though I'm yet to figure out why.", Kyle said, squinting his eyes, looking ahead of him into he horizon of concrete buildings.

"Wow..I'm ..sorry..",Kara said after a while. She truly did feel sorry for him.

His father sounded like a horrible person. Kyle also sounded like he had gone through much worse in his life than Kara had, making her whining sound unreasonable and rather selfish.

Sure, she had grown up in an orphanage, dumped by her parents, with no real friends. But at least she had a steady meal three times and a bed everyday without having to work for it.

Kyle's mom had to make a lot of compromises just to get a meal three times a day for her and her son.

"It's okay. My mom's always been there for me though. She's still around. But she doesn't know that I'm a Green lantern though. She thinks I'm gone to a free of cost boarding school in San Fransisco. I'd like to keep it that way. Spare her the worry. ", Kyle sighed.

"I don't know my parents either...I mean, I know my mom was Kyrptonian. She was Superman's aunt..But my dad was human and I have no idea who he was or why they left me. ", Kara chimed in.

Just then, Kara's super-hearing went berserk as she heard screaming from within the building. A man screaming from some room in the eastern section of the building.

Her face strained up as she tried to reduce the decibel of the noise.

"Dude.. What's wrong?", Kyle asked, seeing the distressed and strained look on his teammate's face.

"There's someone screaming from inside the building. Come on we have to tell the others!", she gasped, grabbing his arm and yanking him along with her.

/

Kara sprinted down the hallway to where she thought she had heard the screaming. And judging from the staff who were running in the opposite direction,she was correct. Kyle had split to go tell the others while she had gone on to investigate. If it was normal threat, she should be invulnerable to it.

She was determined to prove Damian's perception of her wrong. She didn't need help . And she wasn't impulsive!

She rounded a curve and stopped dead in her tracks, seeing four metallic humanoid creatures standing at the end. One of them was holding the floor supervisor by his throat, choking him.

As Kara watched in horror, it drove it's metal hand through his chest and moments later, she saw some sort metallic substance creeping out over the staff supervisor's body, engulfing his body, turning him into one of the metallic creatures there.

Her heart rate began to pick up the pace and her hands began to get clammy. The things standing in front of her were killing people and turning them into one of their own. What the hell were they?

They had eerie looking shiny metallic faces and bodies, with one that was larger than the others, with a crest on top of it's head.

Kara yelped at what she saw and this caught their attention.

The five metallic humanoids (including what had been the staff supervisor), bolted in her direction and the stronger and more armored looking one grasped her around her throat and slammed her against the wall behind her. She couldn't get chocked but that didn't stop her brain from registering imminent danger and fear gripped her whole.

The thing morphed it's free arm into a razor edged dagger like form and tried to drive it straight through Kara's chest, just like it had done to the staff supervisor. She forgot that she was invulnerable to pretty much everything, so she slammed her eyes shut tight in fright and prepared for the pain. But it never came.

Then, all of a sudden,she felt the grasp around her neck loosen and opened her eyes just in time to see the thing holding her by the neck get blasted off by a streak of crimson beam. Expecting to see her cousin, she whipped around, only to find the martian manhunter, floating inches above the floor, his eyes still crimson and fixed on the enemy. Behind him came in the two green lanterns fully in their respective lantern uniforms, the flash, Batman , Damian and Kori.

Seeing that they were outnumbered , the metallic creature leapt up, breaking straight through the ceiling of the building and vanished, followed by it's newly minted would fight them again. The master was here . It was only a matter of time.

Kara dropped to her knees and began panting , her hair hanging off her face.

She could still feel her heart hammering fast. She had honestly thought she was going to die in that fraction of a second when that thing shot it's hand at her, to stab her and turn her into one of them.

Kori rushed to Kara's side and held her up, with a concerned look on her face.

"Kara, what happened?", she inquired as the sixteen year old let out a sigh to calm herself, coughing and gasping.

She may have super strength, but her brain was still getting used to the fact and hence, she still reacted like a normal person would.

"I..I.. was scared. I saw those things kill some guy and turn him into one of them. When it had it's hand on my throat, I thought it was going to kill me.", she spluttered out as Batman approached them.

"So that's how the thing multiplied. ", he simply stated, forcing Kara to glanced up at him.

"What the hell are those things? Why would you keep such a thing in here?", Kara hissed at him.

"It's an extraterrestrial android . We had kept it under heavy lockdown in a containment unit that had restricted access. We kept it here to find out what that thing is and where it comes from. J'onn said it is part human so we can't just kill it. It's some parasitic life form hat has taken control of a human host. But my cause of concern is how it got out. I specifically built that containment to hold him in. Even superman couldn't break out of it if he didn't have outside help. ", Bruce said monotonously.

/

The group checked out the security footage to first find an old janitor lumbering into the unit before he was impaled and turned into one of those metallic things . Bruce still had no idea on how the alarm systems were switched off , and after rewinding the tape further, they found Kyle unlocking the unit by turning into his lantern form .

At this, the whole group whipped around to glare at the young green lantern. Kori was about to reprimand the apologetic fellow when Bruce stopped her.

"There's no point . What's done is done. It's partly our fault as well for not placing increased security measure around the sector and not passing on the information that we're containing an unknown alien lifeform. ", Bruce said as the Tamaranean princess looked at the Batman reproachfully, not understanding.

"What we need to focus on right now is on getting that thing back in containment before it turns more innocent civilians into it's mindless drones. ", Bruce continued.

"Do we alert all league members?", J'onn recommended.

"Not yet. We don't want to cause another public event . We wait and assess the situation at hand before making the call. ", Bruce replied.

"Hey, can't you like...run back in time and stop the metallo from escaping?", Hal inquired to Barry.

"Hey,I can't always just run back in time whenever I feel like it. It just happens by chance. And since when did we start calling that thing metallo? Cause I didn't get the memo.", Barry scoffed.

Just then, the doors of the meeting room banged open and a very pissed looking Steve Trevor marched in, geared up in his battle suit and everything.

His hair was stuck up in different directions as if he had rushed here.

"What the hell is that thing!?", he demanded.

"What do you mean..what the hell is that thing? ", Hal inquired, cocking his eyebrow.

"You were part of the team that captured metallo.".

"Not the metallic android! That giant skull shaped thing in the sky!", Trevor roared, seething in mad rage, looking around as if he was surrounded by idiots.

"What thing?", Kara inquired,hugging her arms around her torso, still recovering from her fright.

"Uh guys... Check this out..", Kyle muttered, indicating to the many reports popping up over the computer holoscreen.

The computer had been switched to silent mode so the team had been completely ignoring it so far.

"Volume.", Bruce remarked as a voice command.

Immediately, the room was bombarded with noise as the video clips, footages and news reels could be heard from various networks, all reporting the same thing.

" _There seem to be smaller ships that surround the larger spacecraft that seems to be orbiting the earth. No news on what that thing is or what it wants. As of right now, we are just as blank on info as the viewers are. While it actively hasn't begun an attack, there have been reports from around the world that metallic humanoids have descended from said spaceships and seem to be have been advised to stay in their homes and keep off the streets until conclusive information on the spacecraft has been gathered. "_ , Channel six's _reporter,_ Catherine Grant said, her blonde hair billowing in the wind as images of people running in chaos filled the monitor screen.

" _We also have reports of attacks by a horde of metallic robots that seem to be killing civilians and converting them,somehow, into more of the said robots. Our leading analysts claim that the thing is not of terrestrial origin as they have discovered it to be communicating in some form of language that is not custom of any piece of hardware on earth. We have received a video clip from one of our correspondents but viewer discretion is advised. The images you are about to see, can be disturbing."_ ,Katherine stated with a somber look on her face.

Then, the monitor screen zoned out and a video clip started playing. It was hard to discern where the video was from because it was rather shaky as the person holding the camera was screaming in fright.

Kara wondered why the person didn't just drop the camera and run for their life. Instead they chose to stay put, risk their life and take a video of what was happening.

In the clip, Kara recognized the horde of metallic humanoid creatures creating havoc around them, destroying homes, creating fires, creating more people into their own kind.

However, she also noticed that some of them were not turning the victims into their own. Rather,they shot out metallic coils at victims lying on the ground . These coils wrapped around their mouths , reeling the screaming victims straight into the palm of their metallic hands .

She observed how the victim struggled for a while, writhing and pushing at the strong hold that the metallic creatures had on them before all of a sudden, their bodies went limp , as if they were dead.

Then the coils retracted back into the palm of the metal extraterrestrials and simultaneously, the body of the victims dropped down, spread eagled on the tar road, with blood oozing out of their mouths.

Then, the person holding the camera screamed in terror as the car that they were hiding in was ripped open and the crimson glowing eyes of the metallic android (that Hal had begun to call Metallo) stared into the camera.

Then there was incoherent screaming before the video feed cut to silver grains on the monitor.

Kara licked her lips, clenching her teeth. She couldn't believe what was happening. She had been one of those helpless victims during the invasion by the parademons almost four years ago. Now, here she was, standing behind the safety of the fortified hall of justice building. She had superpowers now. She could help people .

But at the same time, she was scared of what she was seeing and the unshakable feeling of when those creatures had their claws at her throat kept coming to the forefront of her mind's eye.

She knew she was almost invulnerable to them but that didn't stop her from being scared. She was still just a sixteen year old girl whose world was changing rapidly around her. Just over two months ago, she was slouching around in her dorm in the orphanage and now she was here. She didn't know how to cope so quickly. All she knew was that she had to follow whatever she was told. These guys had been through this before. They knew how to handle this, hopefully.

" _This is Catherine Grant, reporting live from National City for Channel six. Back to you at the studio.",_ the blonde reporter said with a look of shock etched on her face . Then the feed stopped and the monitor went blank.

"So...um... _now_ do we alert all the members?", Barry inquired after a prolonged moment of shocked silence.

"Yes. This is a code red. Deploy all units.", Bruce said and Kara thought she sensed a hint of shock in his tone for the first time.

* * *

 **Till next time!**


	7. Chapter 7- Invasion

**Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Seven - Invasion**

* * *

"If I was being honest, I preferred your Smallville home to this one.", Diana remarked as she raised her cup of hot coffee to her lips.

She and Clark were sitting in a quaint little cafe in the last piece of civilization east of the pole, where Clark's second home of sorts, the fortress of Solitude, was located. He liked to spend time there with Diana during his down time. He had lately liked spending his time there with his newfound cousin as well, though he felt guilty for not having enough time to spend with her.

The cafe was slightly steamy,with the warmer temperatures inside acting as an opposite to the freezing temperatures outside, the result being the glass panes getting fogged up with mist.

The cafe was full with couples sitting in the booths while the depressed or the drunkards were seated at the counters, chugging down whole mugs of beer and other unhealthy drinks.

"Oh really? And why is that?", Clark joked, taking a hold of his girlfriend's hand.

"I don't know. Maybe I just agree more with the warmer temperatures . Plus It feels nice to see where you grew up.", Diana responded.

Clark chuckled, readjusting his thick framed glasses.

"I still think wearing our glasses this far out here is a bit over cautious don't you think? Who's going to think that Superman and Wonder Woman are sitting in a cafe in a small town like this?", Diana whispered, nodding to the sight of the less than average populated town outside the cafe doors.

The town was sparsely populated, it was true . There was not a person outside in sight, not wanting to bare themselves against the freezing winds and the subzero temperatures. The soft, harmless snow had capped each and every house, blanketing them all in a layer of white cotton which cast a rather peaceful aura around the place. The streets ,which were originally tar and marbled, were also blanketed under a layer of thick white snow.

"Still don't want to take any chances. ", Clark continued, sipping on his own cup.

"So..I've been meaning to ask. How are things with your sister?", Diana inquired quietly, staring straight into his eyes.

That was one of the many things he loved about her. She was not afraid to express herself and she wasn't sorry about anything she was direct. He loved that. And honestly, at the moment, he considered her a better role model for his cousin sister than he had been.

"It's..well...urgh...complicated...", Clark sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I really wanna spend time with her but Superman always tends to get in my way. I want to know her as my sister but there's always a town that needs saving or a robbery that needs to be stopped or...something. I just hope she understands and doesn't get the wrong message..", Clark sighed in frustration.

Diana sensed his frustration and held his hand.

"Don't worry. I'm sure she must be understanding your situation. She may be immature and hot-headed but I have sensed great potential in her. And besides.", Diana smirked, sipping on her coffee.

"If she does not understand, I shall have a good conversation with her, a little girl conversation, If you will."

Clark chuckled lightly, sipping on his own cup, wondering how that between them conversation would go.

Just then, his ears picked up a high frequency screeching and he thought he heard hundreds of voices crying out in terror. It was painful to his eardrums. Upside to having super-hearing was that you could hear almost anything around the world(especially if you were as experienced as Clark was) ; Downside to super-hearing was that sometimes you could hear things you wish you couldn't.

"What is the matter?", Diana inquired, a concerned look on her face.

As if to answer her question, the barmaid of the cafe turned up the volume of the ancient looking television set on the counter.

Everybody's attention turned to the screen simultaneously.

" _New reports are coming in about what has been described by many as the second alien apocalypse, with the first one being over four years ago. Metallic humanoids have descended from the skies , as can be seen by one footage sent by a correspondent on the scene. Analysts are yet to get a grip on what the huge skull shaped object orbiting the earth is . But as of right now, it has only been deploying smaller scout vessels, . People have been advised to stay in their homes and stay as quiet as possible. Do not give these robots a reason to harm you. ",_ a studio reporter was saying with a shocked and terrified look on her face.

As Diana sat there, speechless, Clark reached into his jacket pocket and laid out some notes on the table.

"Looks like our vacation has been cut short.".

* * *

"So.. What's the fuzz?", Shazam inquired, stretching his legs out over the meeting table , reclining back in his chair.

Shazam or Captain Marvel, as some kids called him, was a rather bulky, well stocked man standing in over six foot three inches. The guy's jet black hair stuck up like a porcupine atop his head, combed that way or just natural, nobody knew. His square jaw was set as a wide childish grin was plastered across his face. He was so big that Clark had initially thought him to be a Kryptonian, much to Shazam's chargin.

He wore a figure hugging crimson suit with a with an inverted triangle of a crest that emblazoned across his chest. The crest was a dull golden in color with a broad cream colored insignia etched across it , shaped distinctly like a lightning bolt. A white cape with a hoodie was attached to his shoulder pins . Electricity sparkled from his finger tips as he stretched out his hands behind his head,relaxed.

One fact about Shazam that nobody besides Cyborg knew, was the fact that he was actually a twelve year old kid .

"Are you serious right now? What's the fuzz? There's some giant robotic alien threatening to invade our planet and you don't know what the 'fuzz' is?", chided Dinah Drake, one of the new Justice league recruits, the second newest, in fact, before J'onn.

Dinah Drake wore a black, leathery, figure-hugging unitard under a cropped navy blue cargo jacket. If anyone didn't know her, nobody would've guessed that she was a member of the Justice league, judging by the way she dressed. People have questioned the Batman's decision to include her in the league, given her previous, not so clean, crime record, even though she was the daughter of a respected Gotham detective.

A blonde woman in her early twenties, Dinah was the daughter of a Gotham city police department detective Drake, one of the few men Commissioner Gordon personally trusted .

Going by the code name Black canary, Dinah was highly trained by her father in Hand-to-hand combat at an early age and later indulged into the secret society of assassins simply known as 'the hand', where she perfected her skills.

She was mostly used by the league as an infiltrator into secret criminal organizations, due to her ability to adapt quickly to her surroundings. Other than her mastery in combat, the blonde woman also possessed a unique metahuman power. She could release a sonic scream that could shatter entire structures as well as incapacitate enemies.

"Okay, Okay Sheesh! I was just tryina ease the tension here people!", Shazam muttered, cowering under the furious stance of the blonde woman in front of him.

"Are you sure you don't need to be with your wife, Arthur?", Bruce inquired, knowing full well that King Arthur had come to their call despite his wife being pregnant with their first child.

"Mera understands. She says she regrets not being able to help us.", the blonde Atlantean King replied, his hands clasped behind his back with his chest protruding out.

"So we still can't get through to Victor or Dick. ", Barry sighed, walking up to them.

"They are already on their mission. We cannot ask them to compromise their position for now. The three of them will have to remain where they are. ", Bruce replied before turning to his son, who was sitting with Kara , Kori and Kyle in a corner of the room, watching the adults converse.

"The real question is what we do with them. ", Bruce muttered solemnly.

"We could just send them back and ask them to stay put.", Hal recommended.

"Or we could just let them help us. They did help to stop a thirty foot tall giant demon not too long ago. ", Barry interjected.

"Wait. When did this happen? How come I missed out on all the action.", Hal inquired, clearly frustrated.

"Yeah. You were busy mentoring Kyle on your lantern planet thingy...or whatever that place is called. ", Barry snorted, much to Hal's dismay.

"You may have a point. But this mission is too dangerous. They are to be the next generation of the Justice league. We would prefer to keep them alive . Send them back to the tower until further notice. ", Batman finished, whipping his cape around , walking away.

Barry sighed . This was not going to be easy.

He knew how much the titans wanted to be a part of the team and help out. He walked up to where they were sitting and grinned awkwardly at them, rubbing the back of his neck , trying to come up with more pleasant words to use to convey the message he knew they wouldn't take well.

Man why'd Bruce have to be such a dick?

"Hey..Um..I'm sorry to break this to you guys ,but...", Barry began before Damian stood up, a stoic look on his face.

"My father wants us to return to the confines of the tower. We get it. You don't need to waste you breath, Allen. ",He said before stalking off, the sword in his hand.

"Uhm..That kid may actually top Batman on my freaky list. How'd he know what we were talking about?", Barry inquired, bewildered.

"He didn't. I did. I heard you guys. Super hearing.", Kara scoffed, frustrated at the Batman's decision before following Damian out.

"I'm sorry.", Barry sighed.

"Nah. It's okay. You're cool. At least you're sorry about it. Unlike Jordan.", Kyle scoffed before following his friends out.

Kori smiled apologetically and followed her teammates out .

* * *

"So how was your little picnic to the Hall of Justice?", Raven asked sarcastically as the three of them walked into the common room.

"Less than Ideal. There are metal aliens killing people all over the place and the batman wants us to sit around have playdates. ",Kyle groaned as he dropped down onto the couch.

"The flash says that the league will recruit our services when we are ready as a fully functioning unit. ", Kori said, trying to calm the tension among her teammates, though she herself felt some of their resentment at being made to sit this out.

"When we're ready? ", Jaime groaned.

"How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like..like we're sidekicks or something. ", He scoffed scornfully.

"I thought my father trusted me to help him. ", Damian sighed and for the first time, Kara thought she actually sensed him feeling let down and distressed.

"They don't even trust us with the basic information like the fact that they were hiding a metallic alien thingy in their basement!",Kyle yelled in anger, throwing his arms around to emphasize his point.

"Yeah. My cousin's not been very honest with me either. He never even told me that they had a secret HQ in space..", Kara sighed, glaring at the floor in contempt.

"They were hiding a what now?", Garfield chimed in , evidently confused.

"What was...that thing? The metal being that attacked Kara", Kori asked quietly.

"Something attacked you?! are you alright?", Garfield squealed, rushing to Kara's side.

"I don't know what it was...But I can find out.", Damian said with a smirk.

He headed downstairs and returned with a black tablet.

He set it up on the table with the team crowding around him, bent at the knees as he switched on the device . A holoscreen projected out and Damian began to hack into the server of the hall of justice.

"How do you expect to hack that thing from here? We're in different cities,dude. Plus,it's a top class security system they've got over there. ", Kara asked skeptically.

"Pass me my bag.", Damian simply stated.

Once handed the bag, he rummaged inside it and retrieved the silvery USB and plugged it into the port on his device.

"I didn't just download info on my mystery assassin. I downloaded system access coordinates that are connected to the Watchtower's satellite. I can access the watchtower from here, since it's basically a satellite . ", Damian said smartly, impressing Kara.

As Damian typed on it, the screen flashed red.

" _Access denied._ " the AI on the system spoke.

"Henh..Wanna bet?", Damian smirked .

He then typed over again , this time with a new set of key codes . This time, the screen flashed green.

" _Access Granted.",_ the AI said this time. Kyle's eyes widened in surprise.

"Whoa...How...are you doing that?", the young lantern asked, impressed at how his teammate had hacked into a high level security system .

"It's the same system as the Batcave...", Damian smirked arrogantly at the green lantern.

"Now..accessing data on the android. ", he mumbled to himself as he typed on the keyboard and this time, information and data collected on the metallic android was displayed in tabular form.

"Says here that that the thing's origins are unknown but it most likely came out of that asteroid that crashed into the African desert a few days ago. It's some sort of extraterrestrial parasite that takes control of a host body, in this case, a human ...that's all there is..", Damian replied, reading off the data written on the screen.

"Hm..so that thing that almost choked me...it was part human, as Batman said..So they can't just kill it. That's gonna be a weakness for the league. Their attacks can't be too fatal or it'll risk killing the human host . ", Kara said thoughtfully.

"Hey! We'll come up with somethin!We've got a Kryptonian, a green lantern, the son of batman and a freaking blue beetle on our side! Now let's just get out there and show the league we can hold our own, people!", Garfield chimed in cheerfully.

"Yeah... We could help reduce the number of bots for the league so they can focus on takin down the mother ship. So we don't actually get directly involved. ", Kyle stated with a victorious grin plastered on his face.

"Hm..Solve the chaos before they do. It would be poetic justice..", Kori said with a small smile, agreeing with her team.

She was already in her early twenties and the league did still treat her like a kid. No wonder Dick never wanted to join the league. He would've been treated like similarly.

"Hey! They're all about justice!", Kara Joked with a goofy grin, to which Damian rolled his eyes.

"But they said to stay out of the way. ", Kori sighed dejectedly. She didn't want to cause concern for the league at a time of catastrophe like this.

"But they need our help. More than they know it. They're just too damn arrogant to admit it.", Kara chided.

"We're the titans. We can take em.", Kyle added with a grin.

Seeing her team all rallied and unified for once, Kori felt a proud smile creep up her face.

"All right.".

* * *

Silvery oval shaped metallic pods dropped from the scout ships, out of which emerged droids of all sizes and builds, blasting the people, sending a ripple of chaos as the terrified civilians began to run in various directions, fearing for their lives.

"GO!", Hal yelled , ushering civilians in the safe path that Bruce had planned .

The plan wasn't to save everyone, for it was hardly possible. The plan was to get as many civilians out as possible, reducing the casualties. With Superman and Wonder woman still caught up in Europe, Hal and Shazam were the league's big guns. And if Hal was being honest, being the big gun of the team was no easy task.

As Hal hoisted a car out of the way to allow a horde of civilians to escape, a dozen of the droid sentries rained down on him, forcing him to shift his focus to guard himself. Soon, he was engulfed in a sea of metal . For a few moments, it looked like the green lantern had fallen.

Then, with a burst of green energy, each and every droid was blasted off the area, crashing into nearby buildings and into each other.

"That's what ya get when ya mess with the green lantern,Metal morons!", Hal scoffed proudly before blasting more of the droid sentries out of the way.

Just then, a dozen of much larger, more armored battle droids converged on the green lantern.

"Shit.", Hal cursed as he created huge emerald fists from his ring, punching as many of the bots away from him as possible before he too was overcome by the number and the green lantern was swallowed among a stampeded of converging battle bots before Bruce , geared up in the bat wing, caught sight of the horde of droids converging on the sole lantern and took aim.

"Lantern. Use your energy to construct a forcefield around you to protect yourself. ", Bruce spoke into his receiver.

"What?!", Hal scoffed into his receiver, not understanding the Batman's cryptic message but obeyed the order anyway, not wanting to end up on the bad side of some trick the bat had up his sleeve.

And Hal's preemptive action was for good reason, for a second later, Bruce shot two missiles from his aerial vehicle, blasting the droids that were converging on the green lantern, leaving Hal Jordan hovering mid air , his arms throw up in an act to protect himself, blanketed in a green transparent circular force field.

"Bro. Are you _trying_ to get me killed?", the hot headed Lantern scoffed at his teammate, who ignored the retort and continued to proceed forward to shoot a barricade of droids open, allowing free passage for Dinah to aid the feeling civilians.

/

The Black Canary landed hard on the ground and swept under the horde of metallic android that were raining from the skies. She then opened her mouth wide and let out a deafening scream. The shock waves eliciting from her mouth completely ripped the metallic probes and droids in half, leaving them a smoking pile on the floor.

She then spotted a droid advancing on a lone mother and child cowering inside a car, screaming out in terror. She couldn't just use the canary cry at the droid, since the civilians she was trying to protect were in the way. But Dinah had a brainwave.

She dashed forward, bolting in the direction before she ripped open the hanging car door, separating it from it's hinges before whipping around and hurling the razor edged end of the ripped door straight at the droid, driving it through the thing's chest.

She had unknowingly struck the droid straight through it's power supply, damaging it's systems, as it crashed to the floor, a lifeless lump of silvery metal.

As she helped the woman and child escape the scene, something caught her eye.

She whipped around to find a horde of metal bots bolting in her direction with hand blasters raised.

" You've gotta be kidding me.", she cursed under her breath. She needed time to gather up enough energy to blast all of them with enough tenacity.

As she drew in her breath , some dark cloaked female figure landed straight in front of her and murmured some incantations before a shield of some translucent black energy burst out around them, shielding them from the blasts of the droid sentries.

Then, a resounding crackle of lightning echoed through the air and they turned to see the crimson figure of Shazam rocketing towards the ground with a smirk on his face.

"Somebody forgot to pay the electricity bill!", he quipped before punching the ground, sending a ripple of electrical currents in the direction of the droid sentries, frying them whole, leaving them a smoking mess on the ground.

"Glad I was here?", Shazam asked with a smirk as he floated towards Dinah and the cloaked teenaged girl with her.

" Yeah. Whatever. Shut your mouth and get to work before I do it for you!", she hissed at the muscly man, who's victorious grin faltered at the remark.

"And you! You're supposed to be back in the tower! ", Dinah chided, (rounding on the girl she recognized as Raven) with a dangerous look on her face.

"We can help. ", Raven replied with a raspy voice as Garfield and Jaime landed next to her.

"Besides, I think it's kinda obvious that you guys can't handle the legion of metal zombies and the bunch robots from the ship at the same time. You need our help.", Garfield interjected with a smirk.

"Whose Idea was this?", Dinah huffed, pointing her finger at them all.

"It was a unanimous decision. ", Kori replied as she floated down to their side.

"We know it is not our place to decide but we may be of help to the league. We have our own set of powers as well and we want to help.", Kori continued.

"But Bat-", Dinah began before Shazam placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Ah! Let em join in! Bats did say we need as many hands on deck as possible! Besides, you know how batman gets all important and moody to ask for help, even if he needs it.",Shazam said, giving the teenagers a thumbs up.

"Fine..", Dinah relented.

"You guys handle the mess down nothing more! Just try and reduce the casualties. And you.", she continued, rounding on Shazam.

"You get to explain to the batman what's happening when he sees the teen titans running around town. ", she said with a hiss and she went on her way before he could respond.

"Awh..Man..", Shazam groaned before floating off.

* * *

Silvery metallic balls the size of a small buggy car dropped from ports along the sides of the skull shaped ship, rocketing towards earth in a slanting angle, cutting straight through buildings whole before crashing onto the ground, where they opened up, transforming into seven foot tall metallic battle droids, heavily armored with crimson eyes glaring, scanning the surroundings. They had razor edged short antennas sticking out on both sides of their heads, acting as a receptor to data transfer from the master, connected to access ports where their ears should have been.

These battle droids had faces shaped like metallic skulls, with a small triangular gap where the nose should be. They also had slit gaps where the mouth should have been, accentuating the horrific aura they projected onto the screaming civilians.

Their bodies were a bit more similar to the android herald, with larger chest chasises mounted on leaner torsos, creating a much more imposing image of themselves.

One of them caught sight of a human cowering beneath a car that it was standing on.

It's crimson eyes glared at the life form and targeted it's palm at it. Out of the middle of it's palm shot out a razor edged cable that cut straight into the temple of the unlucky civilian, hoisting it up towards the battle droid's height as it absorbed information stored in the human's cerebral cortex, relaying the data to the master.

Upon command, the bot rejected the human, leaving the body spread eagled on the floor, lifeless ,with blood oozing out of the gaping hole in the middle of the victims' forehead.

The droids all had one target.

Finding the Kryptonian specimen.

/

The black plume of smoke trailed from the various derelict buildings in the wake of the invasion as well as from the various demolished vehicles lying upturned in steaming piles. Smoke was also rising from the piles of metallic droids and battle bots that lay decimated on the streets, but despite their best efforts, the League was unable to hold down the invasion force as there seemed to be an unlimited number of these metallic alien invaders.

But all was not lost, as the league helped usher as many civilians as they could to safety, government A-league fighter jets could be heard speeding towards Metropolis from the skies above, with the screeching noises of their engines drawing in the attention of the hordes of battle droids deployed on the ground.

Once in a close enough range, the Pilots licked their lips and yanked at the gear, before switching off the locking mechanism of the weapon, allowing the uranium missiles to shoot forth at the target. And their target was the giant, silvery skull shaped spacecraft hovering above earth in the stratosphere.

Everyone cheered incoherently as the missile had hit target. But their moment of joy was short live. Their smiles turned into horrific frowns as the smoke cleared, with the spacecraft showing now signs of any sort of damage.

Yelping for their lives, the pilots tried to yank their jets away from it's reach but it was too late, for the mother ship shot out it's metallic coily tentacles at the jets, grabbing a hold of their bodies, preventing the pilots from ejecting before the metallic coil seemingly crushed the planes and their pilots whole.

The civilians and the league members watched in horror at what they saw. Life was being snuffed out just like that.

Down on the tar roads, the military had formed a perimeter around the public areas , positioned their tanks at the ready. The men were dressed in their brownish-green military uniforms, ready on duty, with sargents positioned at the front lines, their blasters locked and loaded. The men shook themselves out of the shock of seeing what was happening and took aim at the battalion of battle droids that were marching towards them.

Barry Allen stood with the army officers, ready to provide any form of help he could.

"FIRE!", General Sam Lane roared at his men and upon command, the troops opened fire, releasing a barrage of missiles and bullets at their armored adversaries.

Unlike their aerial compatriots, the army officers did not celebrate immediately and their reason was proved to be correct as they cursed when the smoke cleared. Out of the plume of smoke , clearly visible, was the battalion of armored battle droids that were still marching forth towards them, as if the assault on them launched by the military had done no damage at all. A few of droids were dropping civilians onto the road, ones that had blood oozing out of the gaping holes in their foreheads.

These droids held the victims with their foreheads pressed against their metal palms as the coil absorbed any data signals before dropping their useless bodies onto the tar roads, all information drained was carnage of an eerie kind.

Barry let out a horrified gasp at what he saw. He could try his best but even at his top speed, he couldn't take them all out, without endangering the lives of the officers due to the force of the speed he would need to was sure he would end up frying the officers near him with the speed force , so he had his hands tied up with no possible outtage. What could he do?

The league was spread thin, for they were all battling the other droid units that was attacking other major cities like National City, Gotham and other areas across Europe. The officers clenched their teeth and prepared for the worst as they saw the front line of the battle droids raise their arms, with their weaponry firing up.

There was nothing Barry could do without a high possibility of killing the men himself due to his speed force's whiplash effect.

This was it. All he could do was try and deflect as many of the fired weapons as he could and hope for the best.

Then, all of a sudden, an resounding roar of a female voice could be heard echoing through the skies and Barry and the others looked up in shock , for the it couldn't be wonder woman who was coming. No, the female voice sounded far too young to be the amazon goddess.

Looking up, the army officers and Barry squinted their eyes as they could make out the silhouette of a girl rocketing towards them from the skies, with an emerald aerial jet visible hovering directly above her.

Then, as everybody watched with shock, the blonde teenager landed with a road shattering entrance,before she ripped a chunk of the earth out from the ground and hurled it at the battle droids, incapacitating their torsos from their legs.

She then proceeded to roar intimidatingly, shooting out a crimson beam of intense heat from her eyes that decimated the remaining battalion of the extraterrestrial battle droids.

As everyone stood around, shocked, the girl sighed, cracking her neck and knuckles with a victorious grin etched across her face. The girl was dressed not in any form of superhero costume, as you would expect, but she was dressed up in a casual sky blue sleeveless sweatshirt and black leggings. She wore her blonde hair tied up into a tight ponytail that danced behind her as she looked around at the shocked faces of the cowering civilians and the army officers.

She was also wearing what looked like a green robin mask.

She then turned and walked towards the flash, who was walking towards her as if he already knew the person.

"Kara! What the hell are you doing? You're supposed to be back in the tower! Batman'll have my head If I don't take you back right now!", Barry hissed and his nervousness only grew when the emerald green plane dematerialized revealing the younger Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner and the Robin, Damian Wayne descending .

"Hah! Let em try. Besides. If we hadn't come in now, you guys would've been robot toast.", Kara snorted proudly, picking up the body of a metal droid lying at her feet before ripping it's head off it's metal shoulders.

"Uh. Excuse me. ...Just who the hell are you kids?", General Lane called out over his receiver.

Kara placed her hands on her hips and turned to the general.

"Hey, Us _kids_ just saved your butt !", Kara retorted, much to the shock of the officers, who had never seen anyone talk back to their general, who himself seemed slightly baffled at the retort.

"Relax general! They're with me!", Barry called out to the general before grabbing a hold of Kyle, Damian and Kara.

"And we gotta talk.", the flash added in a mutter before zipping them all out of the vicinity , a blur of red in the grey smoke.

/

"So you guys just decided that you're gonna help and you expect us to sit back and take orders from a bunch of teenagers?", Barry asked hotly, after hearing what the teenagers had to say.

"Pretty much. Don't take it the wrong way. We just thought we could help clear up the mess down here while you guys figure out how to stop that giant floating skull in the sky.", Kyle added, rubbing the back of his head.

"He-Hah! It's okay. I'm not the one you guys should be worrying about. ", Barry chuckled lightly, to which the three teenagers sighed heavily in relief. At least one league member had approved that they knew of.

"By the way, cool superhero landing. It's gonna be hard for anyone to top your entrance, taking out an entire battle droid battalion in one go. ", Barry added with a grin at Kara, who mirrored his smile.

"Thanks. Any news on my cousin and Wonder woman?", Kara asked, looking around, for her cousin brother was nowhere to be found, even though this was his city.

"Not much, since they disappeared without any form of comms. But Batman said that they're stopping droid sentries across European soil. Batman sent Aquaman to assist them. So my guess is that they should be on their way soon. ", Barry replied.

"Where are the rest of your team?", Barry inquired, noticing the fact that Raven, Garfield, Jaime and Kori were nowhere to be found.

"They're helping out over Gotham Bay. ", Damian remarked.

"Let's kick some alien ass.", Kara remarked, punching her palms together before leaping off the edge of the building they were standing on, towards a horde of metal droid three blocks down.

Seeing the teenager's enthusiasm, Barry raised his eyebrows, glancing over at her teammates.

"She's really in the zone isn't she?", Barry asked.

"You have no idea.", Kyle remarked as Damian snorted.

/

Kara landed on the road , right in front of a battalion of armed battle droids, with the only thing separating her from them being a medium sized water tanker. When the droids began to shoot at her, the blonde sixteen year old stepped forward, placed one foot on the chasis of the vehicle and pushed forward lightly.

At her force, the vehicle screeched and toppled onto it's side, rolling towards the battle droids before crushing some of them underneath it's weight while it swept the remaining bots away from the streets when the container exploded upon being shot at by the battle droids.

She spotted another dozen of droids advancing on a bunch of police officers doing their best to hold their own.

She zipped forward to their side, a blue blur , and drew in a huge breath before blowing out with as much control on her breath as she could, so that she released icy cold breath instead of a building shattering one.

Her breath managed to freeze most of the droids whole where they stood.

As the officers glanced at her , confused, there was a blur of crimson and mere milliseconds later, the officers turned to see that the Flash had dismantled every, if not all the bots in his wake. He turned and grinned at the officers before sprinting out of view in a crimson blur again. When they turned to the blonde girl standing next to them, she too crouched slightly at the knees before leaping up into the air, almost the height of an entire twenty storeyed building, vanishing from view.

Kara then landed from her leap, three blocks down , straight into the heart of a marching droid battalion. She then punched a hole straight into the abdomen of one of the battle droids, before grabbing a hold of it's head and swinging it around, crashing it into many of it's compatriots. Four of the bots leapt at her, forcing her onto the backfoot as she shot out a blast of intense crimson light from her eyes , catching the bots mid air, vaporizing them.

She then grabbed a hold of two of the bots charging at her and hoisted them above her head, smashing their heads together. Roaring in exhilaration, she then flung their bodies at one of the scout ships, crashing it out of order as the ship began to emit a trail of smoke, losing altitude as it crashed into an abandoned building nearby.

She felt a lot more at ease, not having to restrict her powers this time. It was an invasion and there was permission to do absolutely anything to stop the invaders.

Just then, a battle droid that had escaped the Kryptonian teenager's assault leapt at her from behind, blaster blazing. She only realized her mistake a bit late and as she spun around, the thing was mere inches from blasting her in the face, was shot down by a beam of crimson light from a certain green martian.

"Thanks.", Kara smiled as she looked up at his figure descending from above.

Seeing that he didn't seem to be protesting her presence, Kara cocked an eyebrow.

"Arencha gonna tell me to get back to the tower or something.", the blonde girl asked skeptically.

"Flash already alerted me to your presence. And despite what Batman thinks, I do think we need as much help as possible. You plan to hold the fight down here so we can work on a plan to stop the main ship, correct?", J'onn asked calmly as she landed next to her.

"Yeah...How'dya know that?", she asked, slightly confused.

"Martians are able to read minds. A skilled mind reader can extract thoughts from a target without alerting their subconscious. I assure you, I only extracted your plan. Nothing more.", J'onn assured her, although Kara was still a little shocked and shaken at having someone probe in her mind without her even knowing about it.

"Yeah. It's okay. Thank god you're the only martian on earth, amirite?", Kara chuckled weakly.

"Yes. I am.", J'onn replied, though he did look a little uneasy at his reply, as if he was hiding something.

But before both of them could converse any further, the comms unit that Barry had handed the titans upon their arrival buzzed and the flash's voice crackled through it.

"Manhunter! You're needed up on fifty third broadway street. Trevor is under attack! He requires assistance.".

Without a further speech, the green martian flew out form Kara's vicinity as she too turned and sprang up into the air, leaping across building tops in a single bound.

/

Diana punched and yanked as many bots as she could, roaring in exhilaration at the feeling of being in a war. Her jet black hair was tied into a loose ponytail that fell across her back, dancing as she flipped around and flew in various directions, dismembering and decimating large quantities of droids.

She drew out her sword, glinting in the daylight as she swung it around, slashing and slicing silvery robotic humanoids.

Diana swung out her golden lasso, looping it around the neck of one of the largest battle droids, putting it out of commission by driving her sword through it before she swung it's body around, using it to smash other droid in the way, increasing the impact of her attack.

She then kicked at a pillar of an abandoned building, ripping it out from it's roots before hoisting it above her head, hurling it at a battalion of bots advancing on her. Wonder Woman then leapt into the sky, driving her sword into the back of each aerial droid she stepped on her way up before moving onto the next, gaining in height before she flew skywards and with an intimidating roar, sliced her sword clean through the scout ship that was supplying the battle droids.

With their supply stopped, the bots began to reduce in number as the three Justice League members present began to unleash an apocalyptic attack.

Just then, a dozen of the aerial battle droids began to swoop down and pick up terrified civilians, intending to store their specimens for scanning later. Aquaman caught sight of this and raced to their aid.

He swung his trident around his head and shot a blast of blue lightning at the droids, all twelve of them in one go, frying their systems. As the droids were put out of commission, the civilians they were abducted began to plummet back to earth, screaming wildly , fearing for their lives. Just moments before they struck ground level, they were caught by a speeding blur of blue in the form of Superman, who grinned down at them as he landed them safely back to the ground.

" _Takk skal du ha! Takk skal du ha_!", one of the civilians cried in gratitude before screaming and running off.

"Um..You're welcome..I think...", Clark said awkwardly, not understanding what the woman had said, since he wasn't fluent in Norwegian.

Sensing that the man in blue was the biggest threat in the group, the armored battle droids began to amass on Superman and he had to fend them off himself, with Diana out of reach, up in the skies destroying the scout ships and Arthur and his warriors fending off droids from the civilian population.

Superman punched and ripped open the bodies of the droids, grunting in anger as he did so. He punched left, right and left again and soon, the bots had completely submerged the man of steel before he roared in anger, unleashing a blast of crimson from his eyes , blasting the droids away from him, leaving many in a mangled pile of ashes.

Clark then shot skyward, dragging seven of the bots with him before smashing them into a parked oil tanker, setting all the bots nearby on fire with the explosion created.

He then shot downward, smashing his fist into the ground with as much tenacity as he could, destabilizing as many of the droids as he could while Arthur and a few of his warriors summoned up a tidal wave, using the distraction that Clark had created to wipe out a majority of the droid battalion.

Clark then proceeded to incinerate the remaining bots with a crimson beam of light that burst out of his eyes **,** decimating the opposition.

"Looks like that's that. ",Clark said as he floated down next to Arthur.

"Batman has sent us the coordinates to the next sector under siege.", Arthur replied, glancing at his comms unit.

"Okay..Well then that wasn't that.", he joked awkwardly.

/

Steve Trevor was not as conservative in his attacks as the rest of the league were. He had been hauled up to a rooftop by the Manhunter and now he stood on the edge of the rooftop, blasting away madly at any form of metallic body he came across, roaring in anger as he did so. He had a limited amount of ammo and these things just kept on coming. It was like these things had no end limit.

Three of the metallic creatures converged on the former army officer, forcing him onto the backfoot as he shot out plasma blasts from his blaster, cowering behind a concrete ledge, as he cried into his comms unit for support but none were responsive. Cursing under his breath, he took in a deep breath and sprang out of his protective area, firing blue plasma blasts , taking out as many of the droids as he could.

Once he was clear, he stood back up right, rotating his neck to stretch his neck muscles, before an energy blast missed him narrowly . Spinning around, he grit his teeth as he caught sight of the new batch of droids advancing on him.

"Ah, Shit..", Trevor cursed in anger as he raised up his blaster to cheek level, taking aim, hoping for the best. But before he could take the shot, six razor sharp blades whizzed past his face from behind him, cutting into the chest of each droid. Upon closer inspection, Trevor noticed the bird shaped blade impaled into the droids,with a blue light blinking on each of the blades.

Spinning around, Trevor caught sight of the fifteen year old boy wonder, crouched on a ledge nearby, his hood drawn up over his head. Damian raised his hand, showing that he had his thumb hovering over the button of some sort of device.

The next second, Damian pressed down on the detonator in his hand and simultaneously, all the blades on each of the droids exploded with a resounding bang in sequence , putting the droids out of commission.

"Stay out of the way,Kid.", Trevor said with an irritated face.

"Would you have preferred I let them scramble your brains ,Trevor?",Damian asked in an emotionless tone.

Both of them stared silently at each other, as if daring each other to talk.

"You're welcome. ", Damian huffed in a monotonous voice before jumping off the ledge, gliding off .

"And I thought Batman was the one that was hard to get along with.",Steve scoffed to himself as he reloaded his weapon.

/

One of the armed battle droids in Gotham bay locked itself onto the black armed aerial vehicle that was the batwing and launched itself skyward at it. Bruce whipped around slightly enthralled as he hadn't seen it coming,for he was busy blasting other bots away from a hospital building, keeping the injured safe.

The battle droid continued to rip apart the outer casing of the batwing and once it detected a sensitive spot, it shot a metallic missile at it.

Bruce, sensing there was nothing he could do, ejected from his aircraft and ziplined to the ground, gritting his teeth as he witnessed his aircraft exploding mid air as a result of the attack .

Just then, he caught sight of three similar battle droids advancing on him and he stepped back, preparing himself, analyzing their movements.

One of them , standing at an imposing seven foot height lurched at him, but the dark knight ducked out of way, clasping his fists and slamming hard on the outer casing of the droid, near the shoulder area, sending it tumbling backwards. He simultaneously spun around a hundred and eighty degrees, placing a detonator on the back of the second droid before kicking at it with all his strength, sending it toward it's compatriot.

He then clicked at the detonator and watched as the droid exploded in fire, taking it's compatriot out with it.

Bruce then evaded an onslaught of attack from the third droid as it began to shoot out missiles and a data absorbing cord at him. Bruce ducked out of the way and shot his line launcher around the thing's neck before leaping forward, using the bot's own momentum to propel it forward, sending it flying over his head and crashing into a battalion of bots that were converging on Dinah Drake nearby.

Then, one more of the bots leapt at the dark knight from a building top, raising it's fists to slam it at him. But as Bruce watched , the droid was slammed with a translucent green fist , sending it crashing into the abandoned building that was the Gotham bank. The figure of Hal Jordan landed next to the Dark knight.

"That wasn't so hard.", Hal panted , grinning at his teammate.

Just then, an explosion rang out through the air and both of them spun around to see Kori getting blasted straight through two apartment buildings as the two buildings began to crumble to the ground , with a horde of metallic androids emerging from the dust, pushing back the Tamaranean as she hurled green energy disks at her attackers.

Raven then flew in over their head and murmured some incantation and no sooner , a wave of black energy washed over the scene, decimating the bots in it's wake.

"You just had to say it.", Jaime remarked as he landed next to them, his arm transformed into a blaster.

"Hey watch it Kid, you're lucky we even allowed you out here.", Hal scoffed, defending himself.

"Now's not the time to bicker among ourselves. We need to focus on the mission at hand. ", Bruce said in a commanding voice.

Just then, a nearby wall burst open and two bots charged at them. Jaime instinctively jumped to the front of Batman and the lantern and shot the clear blue plasma blast out of the blaster where his arm should have been ,cutting straight through the bodies of the metal aliens, leaving them a frying mess on the pavement.

Panting from the effort, he whipped around, his eyes wide open as his adrenaline pumped, smoke trailing out from his blaster.

"Blue beetle,you try to minimize the casualties on the ground level. ", Batman said to Jaime, who nodded .

"Lantern. You keep the droids distracted at an aerial level. Whatever you do, keep their focus off of their main scout ship. ".Bruce ordered the green lantern.

"And what are you gonna do? Besides throw batarangs at them.", Hal joked but Bruce kept a monotone demeanor still.

"What I do is not of your concern. Just focus on your task and I'll do mine. Got it?", Bruce remarked and shot his line launcher , grappling away from the scene before anyone could argue any further.

"I hate that guy.", Hal chided.

"He's the batman. What were you expecting?", Jaime inquired with a sarcastic tone.

"Just get on with your stuff!", Hal hissed at the teen titan before flying away.

/

Back in Metropolis, Kyle burst forward,blanketed in a thin outline of green energy, shooting emerald energy blasts at droid battalions , him and his team helping out as much as they could so that the Justice League could work out a solution to that giant floating skull in the sky, the structure that seemed to have an unlimited supply of these things.

Then, seeing the Green lantern as a major threat, a dozen or more of the droid sentries converged in on the young lantern, engulfing him in a sea of metal bodies. For a moment, Kyle Rayner vanished from view, amid a horde of metal aliens. Then, bursts of green light emerged from within the horde and seconds later, all the metal bots were shot backwards by a transparent green forcefield the young lantern had conjured up. The bots crashed into buildings nearby or into each other, going out of commission.

As he floated mid air, gasping, he heard a woman screaming a few blocks down and shot forward, creating a large claw that scooped up the battle droid that was advancing on her. He then converted his emerald claw into a giant slingshot, aiming it at a scout ship, shooting it forward. He then grinned as the ship exploded as the battle droid came into contact with it.

He turned around and gave the woman, a Mexican in her early twenties, a thumbs up to show that she was safe.

"You...saved me..", she simply breathed, her hands shaking.

"Sure did.",Kyle replied proudly. "But you don't have to thank-", he continued before she cut him off, staring at him with her arms folded up against her chest.

"What's the catch?", the woman remarked hotly, smirking at him.

"Huh? What?", Kyle spluttered, a little confused.

"What's it gonna cost me? How much? ", the woman huffed.

Kyle glared at her, slightly offended.

"You're welcome, Lady.", the seventeen year old remarked with a sardonic tone before floating up and flying off, leaving her surrounded by a ring of derelict and burning vehicles.

"AND HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET OUTTA HERE!?", she yelled as Kyle turned around a building corner, disappearing from view.

"Stupid woman...", the young lantern cursed under his breath at the thankless woman as he slowed down the pace of his flight rounding a building ledge.

"There's some sort of pattern with the way these things launch their attack. ", Damian suddenly spoke up , perched atop of building ledge, two bots hanging headless by a rope on a ledge near him.

"Dude. Do not just come up on people like that. It's creepy as hell!", Kyle gasped, after an initial moment of shock at having Damian speak up from directly behind him.

Damian ignored his teammate's qualms and stared at the destruction on the streets.

"They're not just attacking on random.", he droned on.

"Dude. They're drilling freaking holes in people's brains and leaving them for dead. What more could you think they want?", Kyle chided, shrugging in an animated fashion.

"I don't know but it looks like they seem to be after something. Their attacks are not unfocused .Attacks in Europe and other areas are less on impact that they are in Gotham and Metropolis. It's like their focal point is here. But I have no idea what they're after.", Damian continued, glancing over to the ground, a few blocks down where Kara was decimating a horde of metal aliens.

/

Over in Gotham city, with the time that Hal and the others had bought him, Bruce was perched on a high vantage point, atop one of the Wayne communication towers, surveying the attack unnoticed. Coincidentally, he had also come to the same conclusion as his son. The aliens were after something.

They were only focusing their attack on areas where the android being, Metallo, had been to. Even though he had no concrete proof, it was all he had to go on. He had to alert the others to keep an eye out for the andorid herald, who had been missing ever since he broke out of the Hall of Justice in Metropolis.

/

Kara ducked and charged, crashing shoulder-first into a battalion of battle droids. She grabbed the head of one of the droids and ripped it off it's shoulders before hoisting it over her head and hurling it at the remaining droids, sending them reeling back .

She then burst forward at high speeds, parallel to the ground beneath her, grabbing a droid by it's torso before crashing straight through two building blocks, using the droid as a shield in front of her.

Once on the other side, she dropped what was left of the droid's torso and panted.

She may be part Kryptonian but her human DNA had made her more human than her cousin, meaning that she could feel tired much sooner than Clark would. But she had never felt alive like she did at the moment. She was helping stop the invasion but she was also venting out year of frustration at herself that she had bottle up, using it to fuel her attacks and so far, it had proven to be effective.

She then picked up the noise of bots communicating above her using her super hearing and glanced up to see three of the battle droids lunging at her from above, leaping off one of the shorter buildings.

She slid her foot back, ready to launch herself at the droids but then all of a sudden, a giant emerald fist crashed into the bots, smashing them into a nearby building wall, leaving them a frying mess.

Whipping around, the blonde teenager caught sight of Kyle and Damian approaching her.

"I didn't need your help. ", Kara scoffed, cracking her neck muscles.

"Head on attacks are proving to be ineffective. We need to stop the droids indefinitely . I may know a way .", the fifteen year old son of batman said monotonously .

"Ookay..Whatcha got?", Kara inquired, slightly curious as to what the guy had come up with that even Batman hadn't done.

* * *

 **"** Will you be having any drinks while you wait?", Alfred Pennyworth, Damian's butler asked politely to the two teenagers waiting around in the hall.

Alfred was a man who ,Kara guessed, was in his sixties at most.

He was balding with wisps of grey hair surrounding the back and sides of his head. He sported a thin , pencil-like grey mustache that accentuated his British origin , for at least in Kara's mind, she had always perceived British people to be rather quaint, with pencil mustaches, dressed always in finest apparel and talking in sophisticated accents as they sipped on tea.

Her incredibly stereotypical perception of British people was mainly due to the British parody spy movies she had watched as a kid , growing up in the orphanage.

Alfred, or Pennyworth,as Damian called him, was dressed in a fine fitting black suit with a grey under shirt layered above a white collared one.

He was the sole caretaker of the Wayne mansion when Bruce Wayne was out of town, doing League business.

Damian had arrived with Kara in a green jet Kyle had constructed so that he could gather the components needed for his shockwave device , or whatever he called it. But he didn't let them in on where the Batcave was located, stating that that was a decision only his father could make. Hence, the two teenagers were waiting out in the hall as Damian disappeared to get the components.

It came as a humorous joke to Kyle when Alfred thought Kara to be Damian's girlfriend, as Kara barfed at the idea.

Kara's perception of the butler had dampened since then, for making such a repulsive statement. But she knew he meant no harm. She wondered if the guy knew about Damian and Raven but decided not to press the matter. They had more important things on their heads.

Like an alien invasion.

What were the odds?

"Um..No thanks. We're gonna be fighting some aliens later on so...We gotta avoid food stuff. It's just gonna slow us down. ", Kyle joked as Kara snickered.

Alfred understood the joke but was not as amused as Kara was. Yeesh. It was like almost everyone living in the Wayne mansion had grim, humorless demeanors .Kara wondered what Dick Grayson would be like.

Just then , there came the sound of echoing footsteps and a second later, Damian reentered the hallway, carrying some sort of metallic, silvery rectangular box in his in arms.

"Pennyworth. This stays between us. Under no circumstance is father to know that I took this prototype. Understand?", Damian hissed at the butler.

Alfred nodded to the rude teenager, making Kyle and Kara wonder how the man tolerated the brash fellow.

"Very nice to meet your friends.", Alfred added with a smile to Kara and Kyle, who smiled back awkwardly.

Damian simply ignored his butler and shoved past Kara and Kyle.

"If that guy weren't our teammate, I'd rocket him all the way to Oa. ", Kyle mumbled to Kara through gritted teeth.

* * *

"We need to draw out a large number of the droids to the center of the city.", Damian said as he , Kyle and Kara watched the Flash, J'onn and Steve Trevor holding down an onslaught of droids three blocks down.

The three of them had just returned to Metropolis with the device that Damian had taken out of the batcave, some sort of EMP equipment that the Batman had apparently been working on.

"Why?", Kara inquired. Damian glanced over his shoulder like she was stupid.

"If my guess is right, and it usually is, all those droids should be synced to the same electric frequencies.", Damian chided arrogantly.

"And that means...?", Kyle inquired, glancing over at Kara who was just as out of the wind as he was.

Damian groaned at his teammates' lack of intellectual prowess. At least on his terms.

"Meaning that If we use the EMP to take down a large quantity of them, it should relay causing a domino effect and take down any of the others in it's range. So if we take down a few of them, it should take down a lot more. ", Damian elaborated , turning back to gaze out over the ensuing destruction below on the streets.

Most of the people had been evacuated but the league was still no closer to stopping the giant skull shaped ship orbiting Metropolis in the sky.

"All I need is something to draw in a bunch of robots to the focal point where I set up the device.", Damian said.

Kara snorted standing up on the rooftop that all three of them were perched on.

"I can do that.", the blonde girl remarked, cracking her knuckles before crouching at the knees and leaping high into the air, rocketing away from the other two, towards a battalion three blocks down.

"Does she _ever_ think things through before doing it?", Damian scoffed as Kyle shrugged, blanketing himself in an outline of green as he flew off, leaving Damian to set up the device.

/

Kara landed with a road shattering crunch, creating enough of a distortion to grab the attention of a horde of battle droids.

"Lookin for me, shellheads?", the blonde scoffed with a smirk before bursting forward at super speeds, punching holes left, right and center, absolutely decimating a battalion .

She was careful to not completely use her powers so that Damian had enough droids to send an EMP frequency through. She shot skywards, and craned her neck to find the battalion of aerial battle droids chasing her . Their plan was actually working.

/

Kyle caught sight of Barry managing a large number of droids, and he was busy zipping around, stopping their blasts from reaching the civilians who were cowering together in a run down building behind the flash's wall of crimson.

Barry was running so fast that his speed was actually vaporizing the plasma blasts into nothingness.

Kyle flew in and constructed a giant translucent dragon and shot it forward at the droids, decimating a bunch of them in it's wake, leaving behind a frying mess of circuits on the ground. He then used the dragon's tail to grab hold of twelve droids straight from the ground and flung them at a nearby abandoned building, putting them out of commission as they crashed into the concrete at such a high velocity.

All the remaining droid diverted their attack rained down gunfire on the young green lantern, forcing him on the backfoot as he put up a shield around him.

"Get the people out of there! We've got a plan to stop these guys!", Kyle yelled out to the scarlet speedster before turning and flying out of the area, leading the droids after him.

Barry wondered what the teenagers were up to as he zipped around, moving injured and other civilians out of the war torn area.

He glanced up at the ominous shadow of the mothership as it hovered by passively, with all it's scout ships doing the work.

/

Kara leapt into the air, leading the droids after her, she caught sight of a glint of metal out of the corner of her eye and before she could react, some metallic humanoid thing with a familiar razor edged crest on it's head crashed into her, grabbing a hold of her by her torso , yanking her off course.

Her attacker hurled her at a nearby building upon landing , destabilizing the foundation of the building as it came down on her, hard concrete raining down on a half Kryptonian being.

Kara couldn't do much besides throw her elbows up, cowering behind it as she waited till the building was all but a crumbled heap of concrete around her.

With a grunt, she lifted a slab of concrete above her and leapt up, landing on the pavement in front of her. As she looked up, anger filled her veins, for the thing that stood in front of her was non other than Metallo,and Kara had a score to settle with the bastard for making her feel scared a little while back. She wanted to prove to herself that she was stronger.

"Zor-El. What happened? There was a loud shockwave underground.", Damian's voice crackled out of her receiver.

"Nothing.", she replied, rolling her palms into fists. "Just came across a little itch that needs scratching.".

And with that, she roared and hurtled forwards at the android.

Metallo caught the hot-headed Kryptonian by surprise by catching her fist mid air and swung her around throwing her straight at a tanker nearby. Upon impact, the vehicle exploded as Kara stepped out, groaning.

But something was different about the android. It hadn't been _this_ strong before. In fact, when it had caught her, she somehow felt slightly weaker, as if she had lost energy.

But it didn't matter. She had even forgotten the main aim of getting the robots towards the focal point that Damian was setting up. All she wanted to do was beat the lousy piece of metal in front of her to crap.

She ripped out a chunk of concrete from nearby debris and sprinted forward, her eyes set on the android in front of her. Using it as leverage, she smacked the concrete straight at Metallo,sending the android crashing through a building.

Kara then burst forward toward the android, roaring in rage.

But she was in for a shock. When she raised her fist and was inches from punching the android further,it slid out some sort of greenish razor edged blade and before she knew what was happening, the android slashed at her , cutting her skin open painfully across the abdomen area. Blood began to ooze out .

Kara tumbled over, grasping her abdomen at the cut, looking at the android in shock. Then she caught sight of what the blade was made of.

Kryptonite. It was Kryptonite. Probably from the synthetic samples stored at the S.T.A.R labs facility .

But how did this thing know of this and plan to use it on Kara?

Was it possible that it could _think_ now? Or was it able to think and act on it's own all along?

Kara was inclined to agree with the latter, since she remembered how Metallo had _chosen_ to flee the scene when he was outnumbered back at the hall of justice.

It may be attached to some extraterrestrial parasite, but Metallo was no helpless human trapped with a metal alien . He knew what he was doing .

Metallo slid another similar blade out of the gauntlet on his other arm and advanced on her. Kara made to try and beat the crap out of him in anger but she felt incredibly weak and crumpled back down, cowering under rubble and debris like a weakling. She didn't even have the strength to stand up, no matter how hard she tried. The presence of Kryptonite had the same damning effect on the sixteen year old that it did on her cousin.

Kara's breathing fastened up and became raspy as Metallo stood inches from her, his arms raised with kryptonite blades drawn out to impale her. Then, all of a sudden,a giant green transparent T-rex crashed headfirst into him, sending the android crashing through the building walls, out of view.

Kara's vision blurry from being exposed to the green substance, she felt a hand grasp hers and haul her up. A voice began to speak in a dull, incoherent voice that soon cleared out.

"Are you alright? Damian's ready. He's holding off on the droids . What happened? You look like you got a fever or something.", Kyle Rayner said, holding her up as she regained her strength.

"Yeah..Yeah..It's just..I'm..That thing had Kryptonite on him. I lost..where is he?", the sixteen year old roared, whipping around, intending to smash Metallo's head in.

Kyle caught her shoulder and held her back.

"Kara. we're running out of time. Damian might not accept it but he's a kid with no superpowers fighting off a bunch of armed robots. We need to focus on the mission. ", Kyle stated and he had never looked so serious.

Accepting the fact that her actions had been slightly selfish, the blonde Kryptonian nodded meekly and followed him out, leading the horde of metallic droids after them.

/

J'onn was holding off an attack by a few remnants of a droid battalion as Steve Trevor was helping civilians escape the scene. All of a sudden, there was a crimson streak that zipped around the area in front of J'onn and second later, the Martian Manhunter was facing an empty area with headless bodies of droids that lay crackling on the ground circuits fried.

"So. How's it going?", Barry inquired , slowing down with a smirk as Trevor joined them .

"It's..going.. We Managed to clear out a whole sector down here. Batman's on his way here. Say's he's got some important info he wants to discuss. Too sensitive to say over a radio frequency on the chance that he's right. Doesn't wanna tip off the enemy that we know what they're up to. ", Trevor relied, applying a healing stitch pad onto one of his bruises.

"Yeah. Well..The titans say they've got a plan . I don't know what they plan on doing but they seem to be drawing in a mass of robots towards central square down seven blocks . ", Barry chimed in, glancing out over the now deserted streets.

"We should help however we can.", J'onn remarked before he floated up, flying the direction Barry pointed.

"Care to give me a lift , speedster?", Trevor said .

"Just this once.", Barry hissed, hoping Hal didn't catch him carrying Trevor in his arms. How the lantern would tease him if he saw him like that.

/

On board the mothership, the sole inhabitant of the main hall had his crimson eyes opened, surveying the scene green being was still encased in his pillar, absorbing in data information from captured specimens as the invasion was in progress.

Then, rhythmic beeping echoed through the otherwise silent hall and a report from one of his sentry battalions came through, carrying one message.

" _##^*The Kryptonian *#*^ has**# been located."_.

Instantly, the being's crimson eyes glared with intense energy.

" _Bring it to me.."._

/

"How long do we keep this up?", Kara called out to the boy wonder who was wedged in between Kara and Kyle, activating the EMP while the other two were busy fending off a horde of droid attacks.

"Just focus on your task, Zor-El. And I recall that your task was not to keep blabbering.", the son of batman chided.

"Little turd.", Kara muttered under her breath as she ripped out a chunk of the concrete floor, using it as a shield while Kyle put up a makeshift energy shield around them as he was forced to simultaneously shoot green energy blasts at the droid to keep them at bay.

"Hurry up! There's too many, dude!", Kyle called out with a cracked voice as the number of bots kept on increasing. Over on a rooftop nearby, unbeknownst to the teenagers, the martian manhunter, Steve Trevor and Barry Allen had just reached the area.

"What the hell are they doing?", Barry muttered and was about to zip forward to help push back the horde of metal aliens when J'onn caught a hold of his shoulder stopping him.

"Their plan may actually work.", the green martian said with a hint of curiosity injected into his had read the boy wonder's could work.

"Done! ", Damian called out and Kyle instantly dropped all form of protection around them.

Simultaneously, Damian punched down on the shaft of the silvery cylindrical pod that was the EMP device and as he did so, the indicator on the device lit up and with Kara's heightened senses, she felt an electrical shockwave pass over them.

As the horde of droids and sentries aimed their firepower at the three teenagers, all of a sudden, it was as if they had some choreographed dance move or something, for they all lost power simultaneously and dropped down as pieces of fried metal on the ground, unmoving. At the same time, three of the scout ships that had been hovering above the city ,providing an endless supply of droids, also felt the impact of the EMP and they dropped down, crashing onto building tops put out of commission.

No metal moved after a while. The three teenagers slowly stood back upright from their cowering positions, glancing around at the sea of metal bodies laying scattered around them, with trails of smoke emanating from their fried circuitry. Kara couldn't believe it.

"I..Whoa..Did we stop them?", she muttered, looking around.

"Damn. They actually stopped it. Maybe they're a lot more useful than the league thinks they are.", Trevor said, amazed as he looked around at the scout ships that had crashed lifeless onto the building tops.

"Well. I think it's time we congratulate the guys. ", Barry said with a smile etched on his face.

"It is not over. ", J'onn simply stated and his gaze was fixed skyward and what they saw made Barry curse.

No sooner had the teenagers crippled the invasion force, the giant mothership came into view, ominously hovering in their direction, casting a dark shadow over proceedings. What the hell was this thing? Did anyone actually operate it?

"Oh boy. ", Barry muttered.

Just then, behind them, they heard the low humming of mechanical turbines and Trevor and the two Justice League members whipped around to see the big, black, armored aerial vehicle that was the bat plane and no sooner did the Batman descend from his aircraft.

"Batman. I thought the EMP fired every circuit for a wide radius.", Trevor remarked.

"I wasn't in the range when the EMP went off. And I need a word with Robin about contingencies and when to use it.", Batman grumbled glaring down at the figure of his son, who had clearly accessed his workstation without alerting him.

"Yeah, you can resolve your family issues later but we got a major problem here. Giant alien mothership's here. Whaddya think it wants?", Barry interrupted. Bruce glanced skyward, his eyes squinting as he stared at the armored metallic spaceship.

"My guess is that it's hunting for Metallo. It had deployed forces across Europe and the Sudan desert but most of it's attacks have been concentrated in Gotham and Metropolis. All the areas that were visited by the android. We need to find it and return it on the off chance that the ship will return once it gets what it wanted.", Bruce said monotonously.

Just then, a low , humming echo vibrated through the air and the adults and the teenagers glanced up to see that the spaceship seemed to be deploying some sort of cylindrical rotatable blaster the size of a car, mounted on it's chasis.

"What the..", was all Barry could croak out before the blaster took aim and fired an energy blast of pure white, not at them, not at the league, but at the teenagers, who screamed and leapt out of the way.

Kara's head was whirring and her senses were a bit dulled from the experience of having pure white energy being blasted at her. She had little time to recover as the blaster on the underbelly of the mothership too aim again and shot at the youngsters yet again, completely ignoring the Justice League members standing nearby.

"Let's get outta here!", Kyle called out to his teammates and all three of them ran for cover, avoiding the energy blasts by the mothership, as if the being inside it was angry at them or something.

"I'm gonna go help!", Barry remarked hotly and zipped out before Bruce could stop them. There was no way he could stop the ship without coming up with an executable plan.

One of the coily tentacles on the underside of the ship shot forwards at the teenagers, narrowly missing them and striking the pavement in between them instead. This incident separated Damian and Kyle from Kara, who scrambled up and leapt up into the air.

"TRY SPLITTING UP! MAYBE IT WON'T KNOW WHO TO GO AFTER!", the blonde girl called out to her teammates , who understood and ran off in different directions.

But Kara's plan didn't seem to be working and she felt her fear growing . The alien was only chasing after her. Why?

Kara rolled up her fists and leapt skyward as fast as she could, covering entire buildings blocks underneath her as she rocketed through the sky, willing herself not to glance up at the terrifying alien pursuing her.

Then, it targeted and shot an energy blast at her, which missed her and shot at an area close to her feet. But the impact was still devastating enough to make the sixteen year old lose her balance and trip over before she could launch herself skyward again.

She ended up crashing through an apartment building, crumbling onto the four lane highway on the other side, striking the divider on the road and laying there, groaning. She felt bruised and groggy, with a throbbing pain in her head as a result of some high frequency sound the mothership was transmitting. It was a sound frequency so high that only she and Clark were capable of hearing.

As she lay there, one of the coily metal tentacles on the underside of the ship shot towards her, intending on grabbing a hold of her . But just in the nick of time, Barry Allen reached her side. He slowed down the time around him and caught a hold of the razor end of the tentacle, twisted it around and shot it back at the mothership with an aerial hundred and eighty degree turn.

The claw struck the ship and for a moment the ship seemed fazed, crackling ever so slightly as some blue electricity form crackled around it. Then it was stabilized again.

"Come on. We're gonna get ya out of here.", Barry reassured the blonde girl, hoisting her in his arms as she held onto his neck.

"Why's that thing after me?", Kara croaked out, her mind still fazed.

"Dunno and I don't wanna find out.", Barry remarked and zipped forward, avoiding an energy blast.

The scarlet speedster managed to avoid a lot more of the ship's attacks, dodging it just in the nick of time but he was lucky no more as on the seventh attempt, the ship's attack found it's mark, striking the ground next to Barry enough to trip him over.

Both he and Kara crashed onto the ground and lay there for a few seconds.

But Barry being much faster at healing than Kara was, sprang up to his feet, albeit a little injured, and made to try and get to the girl. But he made no more than two steps ,for one of energy blasts of the ship struck the speedster squarely in the chest, sending him flying back and straight through a building mass and he lay there, his costume tattered, unconscious.

Kara groaned and tried to get up on her feet but all of a sudden, she felt some sort of invisible force engulf her, blanketing her body and she felt all her power getting locked out of use, as if she couldn't use them at all. She was too weak to try and move anyway and the ordeal of trying to evade the attacks of a heavily armed alien mothership had drained all her energy and soon enough, her head hung over, hair falling off her face backwards as she fell, unconscious.

Batman, J'onn, Trevor and the two titans in the vicinity watched in horror as the space ship began to somehow lift up Kara's unconscious body skyward, towards it using a beam of translucent energy that surrounded the area around her as she gradually rose to the ship and none of them could do anything, for fear that the alien may hurt Kara upon their interference.

They were forced to watch as the blonde Kryptonian's body was engulfed in a blanket of white energy and then, in a blinding flash of light, she was gone, nowhere to be seen.

"What the ...", Trevor muttered, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"It was after a Kryptonian. It was after Superman. It makes sense now. How did I know think of this possibility. ", Bruce stated, his mind still in shock at what the fate of the girl was.

"What're we gonna tell em?', Trevor asked quietly.

"Superman and Wonder Woman are here.", J'onn stated , pointing skyward at the unmistakable figures of the man of steel and the Amazon goddess descending from the skies.

"Ah Shit.",Trevor cursed, wondering how they were going to tell the man of steel the horrifying fact that his cousin sister had been taken by the being in the spaceship.

"This is not going to go well.", Bruce muttered, knowing full well how protective Clark tended to get.

* * *

 **till next time!**

 **Phew ! That was my longest chapter yet! Let me know what you guys thought so far! Constructive criticism is welcome.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Brainiac

**A/N:** Hey guys! Thanks for all the comments and all the suggestions! It really helps! And thanks for all the views! 

**Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Eight - Brainiac**

* * *

A few of the remnants of the invasion force, including some battle droids and the still operational Metallo, was taken out of the planet and was under lockdown in the Watchtower, with J'onn and Hal keeping watch as the rest of the league was dealing with the mess back in the cities that had been hit.

The threat was not gone yet, for the giant metallic spaceship was still hovering above the Earth, in orbit , only for now, it seemed passive , simply orbiting the planet.

The atmosphere in the meeting room of the Hall of Justice was tense and dead silent. It was so silent that if one were to listen in carefully, they could hear the silent breathing of the leaguers and titans present. Steve Trevor had left to make a video report to the white house to assure them that the League was formulating a contingency plan to get rid of the alien invader from Earth's vicinity.

Clark Kent had just been informed that his cousin sister, his only remaining family left , had been captured by the as-of-yet-unknown being aboard the extraterrestrial spacecraft .

Clark was staring at the monitor screen, which was playing video clips of the league fighting the bots and droids . It had been almost an entire hour since he was given the news and the man of steel was yet to react, as if he found it hard to take in.

His newfound family member was taken from him so a tsunami of feelings, thoughts and emotions began consuming him, pushing him to breaking point.

Barry,having some background in medical studies for his job as a forensics CSI, was tending to the wounds on Dinah Drake's right arm, which had a large gash inflicted on her by one of the droids. Barry could feel the rising tension within the man of steel.

The remaining titans were seated in a corner, not sure of how to act in such an atmosphere. Kara had only been with them for two months and she already felt like a part of the family. Kori took it the hardest, since she was supposed to look after her younger teammates. Her newest member was gone indefinitely due to her carelessness.

Diana caught Bruce's eye and nodded, walking up to the man of steel . She placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it to ease his tension.

"Clark? Are you-", she began softly before he whipped around with a determined face and walked up to Bruce, was stood over the holotable .

"We have to try to get her back.", Clark said and they could tell the strain in his voice.

Nobody spoke for a few seconds after Superman's remark. They were scared about him taking what they said the wrong way but everyone knew the silent truth. Bruce Wayne knew it was his duty to wake his friend up to the cold hard possibility that his sister was gone.

"No.", the batman remarked bluntly and everyone in the room instantly glanced up at the two figures, standing head to head.

"Clark please try to-", Diana tried to ease up the tension but Clark ignored her and stepped forth.

"What do you mean no? She's still alive.I know have to at least try, Bruce.", Clark said , glaring at the man in front of him.

"No. Clark. You're emotionally driven right now. We need to consider the possibility that Kara is gone . The odds of an unknown alien being abducting her and keeping her alive are very slim .", Bruce said with an emotionless voice.

"But she is my sister and even if there's a slightest chance that Kara's still alive, we have to take it. We gotta save her!", Clark hissed, banging his hand on the table, feeling his anger rising.

Batman said nothing more but merely gazed blankly at his friend.

"I'm sorry, Clark. But no. You're not thinking straight. We cannot afford to waste our resources on trying to save her on the slim chance that she's alive. We have to focus on coming up with a contingency plan to take down or drive away that spaceship from Earth's orbit. That is priority number one.", Bruce replied and this only angered the man of steel more.

"I'm not giving up on her! She's my only family left .", Clark retorted impatiently .

" I've seen too many people I love taken away from me and no way in hell am I going to let some alien madman have his way with her. I never should have expected you to understand . You're the Batman. You have no emotional attachment . ", Clark hissed.

At this, Damian, who was sitting with the titans, gritted his teeth and made to get up to defend his father but Raven held his arm, shaking her head . At her insistence, the fifteen year old robin sat back down, still glaring daggers at the Kryptonian for making such a comment about his father.

Clark turned to go and had taken two steps before Bruce finally spoke.

"Believe me. I Understand. More than you know.", Bruce remarked, taking off his cowl.

Clark paused to look back at Bruce, who placed his cowl on the table.

"As a man who watched his only family killed in front of him, I can tell you that I understand the rage, the desire for revenge, to claw at any hope to get them back . ", Bruce spoke stepping forward two steps.

" I went after a group called the Court of Owls, whom I believed to be responsible for taking my parents away from me. But I wrong. All I felt was more pain at failing . I don't want anyone else to repeat my mistake If I can help it.I need you to be better than me. ", Bruce said, leaving everyone speechless.

He had never told anyone this . Not even to Damian.

"As much as I hate to tell you this, Kara is most likely gone and you would only feel more lost if you find that out the hard way.".

Clark didn't say anything but only stood there feeling betrayed and emotionally unstable. He couldn't lose her. He had already lost both his biological and adoptive parents. Not Kara too.

"I don't care.",Clark retorted, shoving past Bruce ,almost knocking him over .

" I'm going to save her whether you help me or not.", Clark replied with an edge to his voice before flying out of the room.

Everyone stood there, silent. They had never seen the man of steel look so emotional and lost.

/

It had been ten minutes since Clark had flown off and Bruce was still completely ignoring the fact that Superman was behaving erratically. Diana tried to go after Clark but by the time she had ascended to the skies, her beau was nowhere to be seen. As a demi-goddess, she may be able to fly , but she could not match Clark's flight in the speed department.

"He's gone.", Diana huffed , landing back down into the meeting room as Bruce tried to formulate a contingency tactic.

"I'm aware of that.", the dark knight simply remarked.

"And you are not going to do anything about it?", Diana retorted hotly.

"I tried to stop him. I tried to make him see the logical aspect. He didn't want to listen. There's nothing more I can do.", Bruce retorted as he flipped over a holographic dial, assessing the system damage on the Bat wing.

Diana walked up to him and forced him to look at her.

"You can do more. You can help him. He needs you logic more than he needs me and my valor and strength. The Bruce Wayne I know would not let a comrade die if he can help it. ",Diana said with a determined face.

Bruce stared at the woman's determination. At that moment , one thing became clear. She and Clark were perfect for each other. Both were headstrong and rather stubborn.

"We don't even know who or what controls that ship. He could get himself killed.", Bruce remarked coolly, turning back to the holotable.

"Not if you help him. Just run me through with the plan. I'll handle the fort down here while you help him. He needs you. And _if_ Kara's alive, she needs you too. ",Diana persisted, placing a hand on his shoulder.

* * *

Clark rocketed through the skies, past the Greenwich border.

His face was set with a determined look .

He couldn't let go of her. He had lost both his biological and adopted parents. He couldn't let Kara go as well. He couldn't let go of the hope that she was still alive. If he lost hope, there would be nothing left for him. And if nobody understood his situation, so be it. He would go after her on his own.

His black hair was slapped off his face as he sped along the vast expanse of the ocean below, a dark blue sea of nothingness. His super senses were guiding him after the ship that was long out of sight. His senses had never failed him before and they couldn't now.

He had felt so proud when the leaguers present at the scene told him that the titans were the ones who crippled the invasion force but his world came crashing down when he found out that Kara was taken . He had been afraid of opening up to her too quickly and now,he might never get the chance to be her brother.

No. He shouldn't think such thoughts right now. He needed to focus on getting to the ship . His rage began to consume him ,all his loses in life piled up to this one moment. It strengthened his resolve. He was going to save Kara , whatever it took.

/

" _ZZAT... Sir. Are you sure going after Superman is advisable? From what I've heard, he's become rather ...erratic after the loss of his sister. ",_ Alfred's voice crackled out from the Bat wing's comms transmitter.

"Someone has to make sure he doesn't get killed doing something foolish. We don't even know what the being inside of that ship is. Superman may need all the help he can get _. ",_ Bruce replied as he zoomed past the Atlantic ocean.

" _F_ _orgive me master Bruce, but why not send the martian manhunter or one of the Green Lanterns to help Superman? ",_ Alfred's voice crackled out of the receiver it didn't take a master detective to understand that the butler was trying to stop Bruce Wayne from going after an unknown alien.

"Kyle Rayner is still just a kid . Hal Jordan may be a Green Lantern but he's too hot-headed for such a mission. If anything, he would end up being more impulsive than Clark .And J'onn may be reliable but he, like Superman,has a gaping weakness that the opposition may exploit. I'm the wildcard . I have no obvious weakness. I have to exploit my chances here, Alfred.", Bruce replied solemnly.

" _Very well ,Master Bruce. I'll check up on the contingency operation and keep you updated on proceedings."._

Bruce locked his target on Superman's heat signature and thrust the gear to top speed, whizzing across the winds.

/

Clark had encroached in on the giant ,silver plated, skull-shaped spacecraft and burst forward , anger fueling him and he was ready to incinerate anything in his way. It was as if the ship had called off the invasion and it had none of the scout ships flocking at it's sides. It was passively orbiting the earth's stratosphere. The whirring of the high-tech engines on the craft increased in sound as the man of steel rocketed towards it .

Once in striking range, Clark raised his fist and punched at the body of the craft with all his might but he felt the shockwaves of his own punch ricochet back at him, knocking him backwards as if he had punched himself or something. Slightly disillusioned from the concussive force, he roared and tried again and yielded the same results.

It was as if the ship had some sort of invisible forcefield that prevented any external form of harm to the ship's body. Meaning, no matter what he tried, superspeed, smashing, heatvision or freeze breath, Clark simply couldn't penetrate the incredibly strong force that protected the ship's outer casing.

Enraged , Superman burst forward to the front of the ship's hull and began to shoot crimson beams of intense heat at the front of the ship, hoping to do some damage. Then, still shooting intense crimson energy at the ship, Clark rocketed toward the hull and tried to punch and tear the metal open , but yielded the same results as before. He was shot backwards due to his own ricocheting force.

While his intrusion did not do much damage to the ship, it did catch the attention of the being abroad.

It sent out twelve heavily armed aerial battle droids at the intrusion , hoping to nullify it quickly and get it over with. It had captured the Kryptonian it had come here for and this world offered nothing new to would collect a city for a specimen and then it wished to leave the planet's putrid orbit as soon as possible.

The droids burst forward at Clark , who had a maddened look in his eyes as he rolled up his palms into fists, veins popping.

"Come here, you bastards!", Clark roared and shot forward at intense speeds, decimating the battalion in the blink of an eye.

Before, he had been holding back , hoping to avoid unnecessary conflict with the extraterrestrial, being one himself. But now, he wanted nothing more than to tear it apart, whatever it was, limb from limb.

In the blink of an eye, nothing remained of the droids except it's ashes that billowed away into nothingness in the winds.

The ship now stopped moving . It had scanned Clark's power levels. It was interested now.

A white incandescent glow appeared at the bottom of it's hull and seven more of it's droid sentries, with metallic skull-like faces glinting in the sunlight, converging forward at Clark, shooting crimson blasts at him from their eyes and from blasters built into their arms. These were a higher class of droids unlike the ones that had been sent in the invasion force.

It was then that Clark realized that the thing hadn't even presented it's full force during the invasion .

Roaring in anger, he rocketed forth and shot crimson beams back at the droids. The droids managed to dodge his attacks and actually managed to hit him squarely in the chest, sending him rolling backwards with a trail of smoke rising from his chest where he had been hit.

His temper rising at being delayed, he burst forward and caught one of the seven droids from behind and shot crimson light at it's body, giving it no chance of escape as it burst into a steaming pile of metal that plummeted back down to earth.

"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!", Clark roared at the space ship as remaining droids converged in on him.

As he prepared to launch an attack, a missile shot past him, catching him off guard and struck one of the bots, and it exploded, taking it's companions with it.

Whipping around , Clark felt elation growing in him as he recognized the black, metallic aerial vehicle that was shaped oddly like a bat hovering towards him.

But there was a hint of doubt in his mind. Did Bruce just come to try and talk him out of this? Because that's not going to happen.

"The world needs superman. I'm not just going to let you go in without backup and let them take you. ",Bruce said as he readjusted the gear in the bat wing. A smile crept up Clark's face.

"Took you long enough to come around.", Clark replied as he hovered in close to the bat wing.

"Don't get excited. We still don't know who or what's controlling that ship and there's a high chance that I'm not much of an addition to tip the scales in our favor. We need a plan instead of attack and rescue instead of just going in hard. We need to use our brains, not our brawn.", Bruce chided with his signature monotone voice.

Clark sensed two droids rocketing towards them as he and Bruce flew after the space ship. He craned his neck and shot crimson beams of energy at the bots, slicing them clean in half.

"Well. I'm not sitting around while you utilize prep time. ", Clark barked impatiently.

"Fine. We'll do it your way and see how _that_ turns out.",Bruce replied with an edge to his voice after a prolonged moment.

Together, the two of them shot forwards , straight at the rear hull from where the droids seemed to be getting deployed. And their guess proved to be correct, for upon nearing the hatch, a white incandescent light engulfed them whole, similar to how the being aboard the ship had abducted , the next instant, the two of them seemingly evaporated into thin air , nowhere to be seen.

* * *

The first thing that Bruce felt was excrutiating pain in his internal body, as if something was picking at him from the insides. It felt like a hundred different needles were poking at his liver, abdomen , lungs and other such areas. He could've sworn he felt some sort of metal substance in his esophagus. He also felt like he was under deep surgical pressure of some sort and he didn't know how to wake up from it.

He twitched and pushed himself to open his eyes but they simply wouldn't budge.

This time, he was sure he felt something probe in his body, for he felt something move within him. Instantly, probably out of shock, Bruce's eyes shot open and he looked down with horror-struck eyes to see a two inch thick spindly metal coil inserted deep into his mouth, probing his insides. He was laid down on some sort of metallic surgical table that was covered in some purplish, slimy substance.

Feeling violated, Bruce Wayne leapt up and tugged the coil out of his mouth, coughing and gagging all the while. It took a whole seven seconds before the repulsive thing was clear of his esophagus and by the time he was done, the droids, at least the ones in the grey walled room with him, had taken notice of his awakening.

" _Specimen out of bounds. Deploying counter measures.",_ a robotic voice echoed through the room as all metallic heads turned to Bruce.

"Shit.", Bruce muttered and out of the corner of his eyes, he located a few of them analyzing his utility belt and his cowl with a cube like apparutus nearby.

Bruce looked down and saw that he still had his Batsuit on. At least they didn't think to strip him completely naked. Or maybe they were just about to, for he saw four thin, metallic pincers close to him at the table.

He didn't care, for he reached into a hidden utility catch in his suit , near his thigh area and recovered a few smoke pellets. Sure, these things could just use their infrared vision to locate him, but he could create enough of a distraction with his smoke to achieve his true objective.

In a fluid motion, Bruce dropped the black metallic pellets at his feet , engulfed himself in a plume of opaque grey smoke and bolted out of the way before the droids knew what was happening. Sure, they were extraterrestrial bots but they were still bots. Slow on uptake.

Bruce rushed to his belt in the confusion and recovered it, before retrieving EMP pellet shots from a compartment in his belt . Though these were not as powerful in range and power as the one Damian had used to cripple the invasion force but it was enough to fry the circuitry of the machinery that it was latched onto .

He took aim and shot the EMPs at the droids in the room in quick succession, and before any of the mindless pieces of metal knew what was happening, they were all fried pieces of droid waste lying on the floor.

Now that the area was secure, Bruce came out of the shadows, locking his belt around his waist, walking up towards his cowl.

"Hot-headed Idiot.", Bruce cursed, thinking back to how Clark had rushed in impatiently without thinking things through.

Now he had no idea where Superman was, where his bat wing was and where the hell he was.

* * *

Diana was neck deep in preparations that Bruce had set up for the league to follow while he went after Clark.

Bruce was always the one who had done the planning before. Commanding warriors on Themyscira was a lot easier because everyone took orders without conflict. Passing out routine orders to the Justice League was a lot harder because everyone had their one methods of doing things and did not follow well planned orders as easily. Bruce made this look easy.

She was discussing possible strategies on powering down the weapon systems of the spaceship with Barry when she suddenly began to sense the earth trembling. The liquid in the cup that Barry was sipping on began to vibrate.

At first it was small, like a minor earthquake. Then, as everybody stood stock still, the vibrations grew more and more violent with each bating second, increasing in tenacity to the point where everyone knew that this couldn't be some simple tremor. It had a source.

Upon rushing out of the building with her sword drawn out , Diana noticed that everyone's head was craned to the skies and when she looked skyward, eyes squinted, she saw the imposing metallic figure of the giant skull shaped ship, looming directly above Metropolis, it's tentacles, the size of entire skyscrapers, swirling around dangerously.

"Could this day get any worse!?", Jaime whined .

"What the hell does it want now?", Barry asked with a hint of confusion in his tone as he, along with the rest of the league and the titans looked on, unsure of what was happening. Without Bruce and Clark, the league looked to Diana for leadership.

But the princess of Themyscira was just as shocked as the others were. She was a warrior by blood and would gladly charge forward to engage the invasion head on, but she did not want to risk any of the titans getting injured.

"I can charge forward,blast that thing with my lantern energy. I just need backup to get a clear path.", Kyle suggested, walking towards Diana with a determined face.

If this was any other time, Diana would've gladly accepted the suggestion to charge forth but right now, there were innocent civilians who would get caught in the crossfire. For the first time, she was holding back. She didn't know how Clark did it. How he held back his power . She was never one to do it before.

"No. We stay grounded and get the people out of the cross fire. As many as we can. Get them out of the range of the ship. ", Diana ordered before whipping around to Kyle, Raven and Barry amongst others.

"You three, alert all the civilians to stay out of the way . Stay in their homes while we figure this out. ", Diana ordered .

"Um..", Garfield interrupted .

"What?", all of them turned on him, irritated upon getting interrupted.

"We...might not have much time to do anything. Look.", he indicated with a bit of fright in his voice as he pointed skywards.

From the rear hull of the giant spacecraft, a whitish,incandescent light was shooting out, growing in size as it began to form some sort of transparent dome around the entire city of metropolis, spreading in area coverage by the second as everyone watched on in horror.

The extraterrestrial invader was forming some sort of giant transparent cage around the city, trapping it's citizens within.

"I take it back...it just got a whole lot worse.",Jaime muttered as his eyes widened in shock at what he was seeing.

* * *

With a jolt of pain, Clark's eyes shot open to the blurry vision to a giant, spacious hall that was entirely new to him.

The room was gigantic ,with a ceiling that seemed to be higher up than that of a cathedral's , if one could compare them. There seemed to be some sort of purplish, rhythmic lighting running along the black floor in a hexagonal fashion with a diamond pattern, lighting up the pathway, like the fluoroscent floor lighting aboard an airplane.

Clark glanced around and he seemed to be in the center of the hall.

As more of his senses came clear, he felt very constricted,limited in motion and upon glancing down, he saw that he seemed to be locked into some sort of black pillar like structure rising halfway out of the floor . It was constructed out of some extraterrestrial metal that Clark had never seen nor felt before. He was sunk shoulder deep into the the pillar, entrapping him within and limiting his motion to the point of not being able to move even an inch.

Four silvery metallic spindly coils were connected to his forehead, attached to him via the temples and the entire scene looked like something out of a Frankenstien movie, with Clark struggling against the tight casing of the metal pillar, unable to break out of his containment. He began to pant from his weak efforts of breaking free from the hold .

Then, without warning, blue electrical currents ran through the coils attached to his head , causing him a lot of pain as the current ran through his head, making his body pump more blood into his brain cavity to sustain equal body pressure and reduce the pain.

"Argh..Ergh..eh..", Clark yelled in pain as the current finally stopped.

"The Impudence.", a cold, drawling voice echoed through the hall.

The voice had an unnatural aura around it, and it sounded almost robotic to the ears. But the way it was spoken did not sound robotic either. Not even the slightest. The voice belonged to a living, breathing being . A cold,emotionless being obsessed with knowing all there was to know in the universe. The voice had a slight hiss to it and the way the sentence was spoken made it sound like the owner of the voice was bored and droned on .

Clark groaned and searched for the source of the haunting voice. Upon his eyes finding the source, they widened in shock at the sight of the being confronting him.

The thing was a humanoid, with pale,unnatural looking emerald skin that gave off a monotonous aura around it.

It had a square jaw set, matched with a gaunty looking face , with a slightly protruding eyebrow area. Only he had no eyebrows. His nose was also tightly set and looked almost artificially designed. The being was bald and had crimson glowing eyes with jet black pupils that felt rather uncomfortable to look at. It had bulging muscular arms with palms rolled up into fists that it clasped behind it's back.

If Clark was being honest, the being looked eerily like a very beefed up and imposing version of the Martian Manhunter, if J'onn had a very sinister and emotionless look about him. The being also seemed to have six metallic circular ports running along it's head, with glowing purplish incandescent light emanating from the ports, as if the being itself was robotic. But Clark had the inkling that this thing, whatever it was, was not entirely robotic. It wasn't a cyborg either.

The being wore some sort of unnatural looking jet black body suit of extraterrestrial origin, and it wound up around his body tightly, outlining his imposing suit shone unnaturally in the eerie light cast in the suit also had purplish circular and oval data ports mirroring those on it's head(though much larger in size), running along it's body, on it's knees , elbows and along it's shoulders.

He also wasn't standing on the ground. In fact, the green being seemed to be silently hovering inches above the floor, gazing upon Clark's trapped figure with demeaning eyes.

"I have been claiming worlds centuries before you were born. ", the being stated, his voice giving off the chilling robotic echo through the room upon speaking.

"You thought you could break in to my ship to retrieve something of yours. You were incorrect. Nothing enters the ship unless I desire it. You fail to comprehend this.", the being stated .

"W-Where's Kara? What've you done with her?", Clark managed to croak out through the intense pain flowing through his body. The being simply gazed down on Clark as if this as a waste of time.

"Yes. The half-breed Kryptonian.", the being spoke before pausing . Then he continued on.

" My herald relayed information of locating the Kryptonian specimen on this planet .Upon collection , my droids discovered that the girl is only half Kryptonian and did not meet my abomination, if you will. I thank you for bursting in here with you human friend. _You_ complete my Kyrptonian collection. Your human friend will serve a satisfactory display specimen of the unexceptional human specimen. As for the girl, she is less than desirable. She will be eliminated and disposed of. ",the green being spoke with a monotone voice.

Clark felt anger grip him and his struggled against his confines .

"You leave Kara alone. Leave Earth while you still can !", Clark roared , seething in rage.

"Yes. Your... affection for the half-breed Kryptonian and the unexceptional planet of earth revolts me.", the being remarked and Clark yelled in pain as another surge of electricity whizzed through the coils and into his forehead.

"Earth was less than satisfactory. It had nothing new to offer to me.I found the planet redundant. I have ...collected a specimen population, however, to remind myself not to waste my resources on such endeavors in the future. ", the green alien droned on.

"My focus was on finding the Kryptonian specimen to complete my collection. And you will serve a satisfactory specimen for your specimen. ",the being remarked with the same echoing monotonous voice.

Clark felt his energy getting drained from the experience of having metal appendages inserted and probing his head.

"Kara..", he panted, letting his head hang , closing his eyes, trying to conserve his energy.

The being gazed at Clark with an unimpressed expression on his face.

"Disgusting. Your love for the half breed species is nauseating . ", the being stated. Clark looked up slowly, making eye contact with the eerie being in front of him.

"What...W-Who are..you?", Clark panted.

The being drifted in close to Clark, barely inches away before looking down upon the trapped Kryptonian.

"I am the collector of worlds. I have infinite knowledge that your incompetent mind can never hope to comprehend. I am everything.I am...Brainiac.".

* * *

Bruce was being strangled by one of the monitoring protocol droids aboard the had reached the fourth detention level without much obstruction. His luck had run out, by the looks of it.

" _Identify."_ , the skull faced sentry bot commanded with it's droning voice echoing.

"Try asking nice.", Bruce spat, struggling against the metal palm strangling his windpipe . He was simultaneously distracting the droid while he was prepping his EMP drive, slipping his free hand into the belt compartment.

It's eyes lit up a glowing red as it ran a scanner over Bruce's body.

" _Human Specimen_.", the droid scoffed.

"Nnh. Not big on people skills are we?", Bruce scoffed before he clicked on the drive and in an instant, the EMP drive fried all robotic circuitry within the near vicinity, clearing the path for Bruce to escape and continue his search for Clark.

Every direction he turned, all he saw were the bodies of the nullified specimens,stored within the purple capsules that lined up the silvery metallic inner walls of the ship in symmetrical columns.

Bruce crept along in the shadows , rounding a corner and prepped his flash grenade upon seeing four monitoring droids patrolling the sector.

Finding the right moment, the dark knight hurled two detonator batarangs that impaled into the bodies of the droids. The next second, Bruce clicked down on the detonator control in his left glove, blasting the droids in one fell swoop.

Upon clearing the room, he switched on the x-ray vision on his cowl and turning around, he spotted the figure of a female humanoid in the distance, and at least ten protocol droids, that seemed to be probing her just like they had been probing him.

He followed through in the direction and came face to face with some sort of mechanical arched doorway that needed code clearance from a droid to get through. Great. And he had already tried radioing to the Hall of Justice. Comms were jammed aboard this there was no possible way for him to hack the security drives with his gear.

Just then, Bruce heard heavy footsteps round the curve of the corridor, with the variations in footsteps sounding robots. Great. This would make his job a whole lot easier.

It was a rather oval shaped, spindly looking probing bot, with one glaring red eye on it's face that rounded the corner. The bot rounded the curve and stomped into the empty hallway, towards the doorway, unaware of a human specimen lurking in the shadows , waiting to pounce.

As soon as the droid had it's back turned to Bruce, he leapt up behind the droid, catching it in a strangle hold, placing a detonator on its neck before jumping off it's back and blasting it's head clean off it's body.

Bruce approached the frying mess of circuits and metal on the floor and recovered the coding index from the bot's body. . If Bruce's guess was correct, then he could use the coding he had just recovered to open hack into any of the security systems aboard this ship.

Bruce hacked into the scanner on the doorway and opened it, slipping inside the room before any droid noticed the minor disturbance. He quickly ducked under a sentry droid as it stomped by and hid behind one of the purple specimen cubicles that was propped upright, watching the scene from a safe distance, analyzing the area, planning out a tactic .

There were about twelve probing bots moving around the room, and they were, in fact, assisting the thick, coily tentacle like twin arms that dropped down from the ceiling , scanning the figure of a blonde teenage girl who had her ankles and wrists tied up in metallic cuffs that encased around her hands and feet whole, with her limbs pulled wide apart, forming a sort of 'X' shape.

Kara.

She was stripped to her inner clothing and the band that held her hair up in a ponytail was torn loose, with her blonde locks hanging off her face.

The cuffs holding Kara were connected to black metallic rods that were attached to some sort of ringed cell attached to the floor, holding up Kara vertically , with her head facing upwards, forced to face upwards as two smaller needle appendages were moving dangerously close to her eyes. The coily metal tentacles from the ceiling were probing her from various angles. It looked disturbing. She was being probed at a level much higher than Bruce had been.

Probably because she was Kryptonian.

She also had the silvery, metallic coily probe that was inserted into her mouth, probing her internal organs. Bruce knew that horrible sensation. He did not wish the sixteen year old girl to endure this sensation any longer.

Two armed seven foot greyish metallic battle droids were standing on either side of Kara's cell, guarding it while the other bots shuffled about, analyzing the specimen data.

Just then, two smaller coils extended out from the ceiling and attached onto her forehead and as Bruce watched, a blue electric current traveled through the coil and to her forehead, making her yell and cry out in pain. Bruce even thought he heard the faint voice of Clark yelling out from somewhere on the ship.

Good. He was here. Now Bruce just had to find out where.

Bruce licked his lips as he prepped his grapple gun to the weaponized mode as he scanned the area with his X-ray vision , developing a plan to take out the bots to get Kara out of there.

/

As the bots scanned the clothing Kara had on her during her abduction, a dark shadow whizzed past, unnoticed, placing detonators on the backs of the droids . Then, all of a sudden four of the droids exploded without notice, crumpling to the ground as a molten mess of metal.

This created enough of a confusion for Bruce to zip up to a higher ground, atop one of the railings as the bots shuffled around, scanning the ground level for the intrusion.

Bruce aimed his EMP shots at the armed battle droids and shot them, frying them instantly as they dropped their blasters and crumpled to the ground, fumes of smoke trailing from their bodies. He then quickly glided down and shut down the probing contraption, pulling out the metallic cord from Kara's throat as he kicked down two probing bots who were converging on him from behind.

Kara coughed with her eyes blurry from disillusionment as the scene played out in front of her.

Bruce used his grapple gun , roping in two bots around their necks as he flipped over them before hauling the bots over his head, using their momentum to crash them against more of their compatriots, decimating the droids.

Bruce then hurled detonator disks at the three remaining bots, clicking on the device on his belt as the disks found their targets, bursting their bodies open in a concussive explosion as he did so.

Bruce then began to walk over the steaming pile of metal bodies towards Kara but all of a sudden ,he was met with one of the metal arms from the ceiling, hitting him across the abdomen area head on, throwing him off his feet as he doubled over, grunting in pain.

One arm then shot forth , clasping it's metal appendages around his neck as the other arm formed a sort of razor edged blade, aiming itself at Bruce's head to cut him open.

Struggling for air, Bruce picked out the last EMP disk in his utility belt and slammed it against the metal coil at his throat. It stunned the arm, but not enough to release Bruce's throat. As Bruce gritted his teeth, the other arm, which seemed unaffected by the EMP shock, prepped to impale his body , morphing it's end into a razor sharp blade form.

Then, out of nowhere a girl's roaring could be heard before a beam of intense crimson light shot directly through the metal arms, slicing them open whole.

The arm strangling Bruce recoiled and shot back up into the ceiling leaving it's companion a fuming mess on the floor as Bruce clutched at his throat, gasping for air as he looked up.

Kara her her blue irises fixed on Bruce as she panted, drained from the effort of shooting heat vision .

Bruce removed the remnant of the metal clasp around his throat and got up, coughing as he walked up to the system that operated the ringed cell holding Kara captive.

"Let's get you out of here.", Bruce remarked calmly as he hacked into the systems and switched off the power to the cell.

Instantly the cell opened up, releasing Kara from her cuffs and she dropped down, crumpling to the floor in a mess of sweat . She had never looked so bad before.

Bruce held her up and helped her over to the table that had her clothing laid out .

"Get dressed. We're not done here. ", he simply stated as he handed her her tattered blue sweat shirt.

And his guess was correct, for not a second later, the doorway slid open and an entire battalion of armed droids and bots of different sizes and shapes marched in , blasters and pincers at the ready. Kara pulled her pants up to her waist and groaned. She had had enough action to last a whole , she had a score to settle with these mindless drones. She felt like she had been molested from the probing .

"Crap **.** ", she muttered as she threw her arms up and her eyes began to glow crimson. "I don't have the patience to deal with these yahoos right now.".

/

Brainiac was gazing down upon the figure of a worn out Superman, who had his head hung had heard Kara screaming earlier and tried to break out to go to her side but was unable, and now he had begun to feel hopeless.

Then, all of a sudden, Brainiac's greenish face suddenly went blank, with his crimson eyes gazing ahead, unfocused for a moment before his disgusted expression wove back onto his face.

"Yes. I underestimated the half-breed's power levels and she has managed to break out of her containment with the aid of the human specimen.", Brainiac mused, as if this was no big issue to him.

"She too tough for you to handle?", Clark scoffed through his panting as he felt relieved. Kara was still alive. And Bruce had got her.

"It was a mistake. It will not happen again.", the green Coluan droned on, slowly hovering away from Clark, to a point right under some kind of metallic oval shaped orb that hung down from the ceiling.

"The intrusion is already been taken care of. The half-breed kryptonian and her human aid will be neutralized shortly. ", Brainiac droned on as smaller metal coily extensions branched out of the sides of the metallic orb and connected themselves onto the many ports along the data ports on Brainiac's head.

"You, on the other hand, are the perfect Kryptonian specimen . You, I will keep. I will begin analyzing the data stored within you. ", Brainiac remarked to the Kryptonian who had an appalled look on his face.

"I will connect to your mind now and it will cause you may or may not survive. It will be a disappointment if you do not. ", Brainiac remarked as data,information, images and knowledge that Clark had never encountered before in his life began to pour into his head, overwhelming him .

He began to yell out in pain as the connection constricted the blood flow in his head, embossing the veins on his forehead outward against his skin due to the pressure exerted onto his mind.

"How many worlds do you think your feeble mind can comprehend before it submits to me? I wager not even one.", Brainiac taunted with an emotionless tone as he watched Clark struggling and writhing against his confines.

"ARGARGHHHHHH!".

/

Kara stood panting with one arm slung over Bruce's shoulder as the both of them trudged out of the probing room with the bots lying strewn across the room in ashes, sliced clean in half by Kara's heat vision. Bruce didn't say it, for he didn't want the praise to go to the young girl's head, but she had definitely improved her abilities since her first foray out stopping Killer frost and Boomerang almost three months ago.

"Good work.", Bruce replied instead as he let her sit down on the metallic floor.

"Thanks. ", Kara smiled the best she could , feeling tuckered out from being probed and prodded at by aliens.

"Stay here. I'm going to find a secure pathway to the bat wing and I can get you out of here.",Bruce said as he straightened up , glancing around the area for a viable route to get her to safety. He hadn't told her of Clark being aboard the ship yet, for he knew the hot-headed girl wouldn't leave without her brother.

But then, from some unknown sector of the ship came the unmistakable voice of Clark Kent . And he seemed to be in pain. He cried in pain.

Kara didn't need super-hearing to hear it. Her cousin was here. She looked up instantly at Bruce, who also had heard the cry. So she hadn't imagined it.

"CLARK!", she yelled out and before Bruce could stop her, the girl stood up, her fists rolled as she gritted her teeth in anger. He was the only family she had. She couldn't lose him.

The cry of pain came again and this time,it sounded even more dreadful and agonized than the last . More importantly it sounded like it came from a sector above them.

Kara didn't know what to do. She lost all logical trail of thought as emotion overwhelmed her. She had no parents. She couldn't lose the only thing she had ever had to a family . Unknowingly, her subconscious took over her body, for her instinct knew what to do. The on thing Kara had yearned to do all this time.

As Bruce watched, the small crumbs of debris around them began to gradually levitate as if by some magnetic force. Then, taking Bruce completely by surprise, the blond girl shot upwards, with her arms extended out above her shoulders as she punched her way through the metallic ceiling flinching not even once.

And she didn't stop there. It wasn't like she was leaping, for Bruce had already seen her do that. She kept shooting higher and higher without another boost , breaking open metal barriers in her path as she shot to her cousin's cry. Bruce's doubts were quelled .

Kara was flying. Flying. Some sort of trigger had been unlocked in her subconscious upon sensing that Clark was in danger and in order to get to him, she had subconsciously flown upwards to get to him.

But it looked like she hadn't noticed it yet.

Bruce walked up to the hole the girl had created throughout the many floors above them looking up through the derelict floor ceilings. She had now flown out of view.

He raised his grapple gun over his head and shot it, grappling after her.

/

"Whe...Where the hell are we?", Kyle groaned as he got up from what felt like a concussion.

As his vision cleared out, he saw the other league members getting up from the floor, similar to him. Well, at least he hadn't passed out like a wimp alone.

"I..I do not know.", Diana remarked as she rubbed her head.

Everything seemed the way it was before. The buildings, the civilians, the people all still there;except that there was no blue sky above them. What was cast over them, in fact, was some sort of blurry ..surface of some kind and it seemed like they were in some sort of dimension or something.

"Lemme see if I can get a read on where we are.", Raven remarked to the others and she flew above them to a reasonable height and shut her eyes, as an outline of translucent black surrounded her.

Then, she opened her eyes and descended back down with a disgruntled expression.

"Nothing. It's like something's blocking my energy or something. I can't get anything. But we're definitely not in another dimension . ", Raven remarked as Damian walked up to her.

"I'll see if I can radio in Batman.", he remarked and tapped the receiver plugged into his ear.

The thing let out a shrill , piercing , irritating noise before it crackled and went dead silent.

"Nothing. I can't even get through to the batcave. ", he chided irritably.

"Lemme see If I can get outta here to see where we are. ", Barry suggested and he zipped out , a crimson blur vanishing into the crowd of terrified civilians.

Barry saw an opening to the edge of the city in one of the alleyways and burst forward at it. Only, a second later, he rammed himself head-on into some sort of glass barrier .

He doubled over , rubbing his shoulder as he walked up to the spot and placed his hand on the barrier that prevented him from moving any further.

It was definitely some sort of felt ...like glass. What the hell is this?

He began to vibrate his palm at super speed, so much so that it became a crimson blur as he tried to phase through the glass to get to the other side.

All of a sudden, a robotic voice echoed through the entire city.

" _Intrusion detected in Specimen population. Dispatching sentries.",_ the robotic voice echoed and not a moment later, two metallic sentry droids, not unlike the ones from the invasion, materialized in front of Barry from thin air.

" _Citizen, you activity is subversive. Please return to the city and step away from the border.",_ the droids remarked simultaneously.

"Okay. I am definitely creeped out right now. ", Barry muttered to himself before bursting forth , phasing his hand straight through the bodies of both the droids before they knew what was happening , putting them out of commission.

He then bolted back towards the Hall of Justice, where the others were all standing with confused and shocked faces.

"Didja hear that?", Barry inquired as he reached them.

"Yeah. Some sort of terminator like..thingy. It was totally _not_ Schwarzenegger. But after the voice, nothing came.", Shazam piped up, walking up to Barry and Diana.

"Something did come . That announcement was for me.", Barry remarked tentatively as the others exchanged confused glances.

" You're not gonna believe it but..I think we're in some sort of glass prison or something. I reached the city limits and tried to get out but I was stopped by some glass barrier.I tried to phase out but robot sentries came and stopped me. I think they'll harm us if we try to break the barrier or something.", Barry replied.

"Preposterous!", Diana chided, not able to believe the scarlet speedster's tale. How could someone imprison an entire city? And what for?

"Uh guys?", Jaime called out from above them.

"Isn't that Superman with some green alien? Or am I losing my mind?", the blue beetle called out.

Diana flew up to him and looked in the direction he was let out an involuntary gasp.

To her shock, it was her beau, trapped in some sort of pillar with a green outside the glass dome seemed to be much , much more gigantic than anything they had ever seen. And Clark seemed to be crying out in pain as the alien tortured Clark.

"Great Hera...I don't believe it."

The entire city was entrapped within some sort of glass dome of a containment unit, miniaturized and kept in some sort of room as the green being , the one that had caused so much harm and destruction to the earth in a matter of hours, tortured the man of steel in front of their very eyes.

/

Blood began oozing out from the points on Clark's forehead where the metallic data probes were inserted, sending in electric currents to subdue his subconscious mind and keep it occupied as Brainiac absorbed the information within Clark as a bit of Brainiac also flowed into Clark's brain overwhelming him to the point where all he could do was scream as the pain consumed him.

"Unimpressive. Your knowledge of your planet is as limited as that of the half-breed. But your Kryptonian biology and DNA coding will suffice as viable information since your species is extinct.", Brainiac remarked in his cold, drawling voice.

The veins on Clark's face embossed even more straineously outwards as he roared under intense pain, unaware of the miniaturized Metropolis watching the scene from within a glass dome.

"Good. Fight it. ", Brainiac droned on.

Just then, the floor beneath them began to shake violently and a moment later, the velvety, metallic floor beneath them cracked open and a blur of blonde whizzed upward .

Before Clark had understood what was happening, Brainiac was already being strangled , slammed to a nearby wall by none other than Kara and to Clark's mingled surprise and shock, she was hovering above the ground as she had her palms around Brainiac's throat with both her knees bent , her feet nowhere near the had somehow finally done it.

The seven foot tall being was not all knowledge either.

He caught a hold of Kara's hair and yanked her off his throat, hurling her across the room , crashing her into a wall rose in a plume of dust as it was wrecked by both her concussive strength and the force with which she was thrown.

He then shot forward, fist raised at her but she was ready for him. She leapt up into the air, hovering momentarily before her eyes glowed crimson and a beam of intense red energy shot out , striking Brainiac straight in the chest, sending him reeling backwards.

She then flew forwards at him and began punching him in rapid motion, her arms a blur as she punched too fast for the eye to see, a look of rage in her eyes as she roared. She then grabbed Brainiac by the collar of his suit and hauled him over her body, throwing him across the room and into the pillar that held Clark .The pillar was not entirely wrecked but it did get slightly damaged as a result.

She roared and burst forward as Brainiac got to his feet. But as she tried to land a blow on the green alien, Brainiac simply stepped out of the way, making her falter in surprise before he grabbed her from the behind by her waist and hurled her across the room, breaking open the sliding door of the hallway as she crashed through it, revealing a horde of metallic droids and bots that had come to the aid of their creator.

"Half-breed Kryptonian trash. You are nothing compared to me. I am everything. I am Brainiac.", the being proclaimed as Kara got to her feet, groaning. Before she could react, she was shot in the back by a crimson beam from one of the blasters of the droids, sending her tumbling back into the hall at Brainiac's feet.

As she groaned, the green being grabbed her whole head in the palm of his hand and hauled her up, with her body dangling from the neck down while he had his palm clasped around her head. She began to scream out loud as he began to crush her head.

Intense pain seared through her skull due to him crushing it and she tried to punch at him but his body was out of reach so she ended up punching air. As a last resort, she began bursting crimson heat energy at his palm from her eyes and thankfully, it seemed to work as the green being felt his palm experience intense heat so much so that he hurled Kara across the room, sending her crashing into a few of the domed cities, destroying them instantly as their miniaturized form could not exist outside the conditions of their glass containment.

It was then that Bruce took notice of the miniaturized cities in the hall.

The horde of droids marched into the hall as Bruce helped Kara up, surrounding them as they backed up next to an energy drained Clark trapped in the black pillar.

"You amuse me with your attempts to escape the inevitable. Soon, I will have you disposed of, half-breed and I will destroy earth with a thought.", Brainiac proclaimed as he and his droids pressed the three intruders down.

"We'll see about that.", Bruce remarked before he dropped a smoke pellet. As the droids stared around in confusion, Kara burst out of the smoke, flying straight towards Brainiac, who hadn't expected her intrusion.

"HEY, PLUG HEAD!", the blonde teenager yelled before she landed a solid blow cross his face,sending him tumbling backwards as Bruce tried to free Superman from the pillar with the lazer dissector from his belt, still hidden from view in the smoke.

"You talk too much!", Kara scoffed, enraged at all the green alien had put her through in one day.

The droids rushed at Kara and began shooting plasma blasts at her. She flew higher and caught a hold of an aerial battle droid , ripping it open as she shot heat vision at the droid sentries, setting them on fire due to the intense heat.

She then hurled the split body of the droid in her hands at it's companions below , sending them reeling back upon impact. She then flew straight at them, ripping open two of the droids by inserting her hands straight through the center of their chest area and driving her hands apart from each other. She the proceeded to carry on her assault, a one girl army.

Bruce was through one layer of the pillar that encased Clark before one of the droids found his heat signature and shot a beam of crimson energy at him, sending the dark knight crashing back into a glass layer behind him.

Bruce picked himself to his knee, groaning as he clutched at his rib.

One metallic spherical droid began to hover in close to him. The droid was still in it's travel mode , hence it looked more like a metallic, spherical orb with many purple data ports. The droid targeted at Bruce and shot red energy from it's center eyepiece.

Bruce ducked under it's lazer shot and leapt up, grabbing it from behind, rewiring it's circuitry simultaneously to make it immobile for his use. Bruce hoisted the droid around and used it like a shield against the lazer blasts the other droids were raining down on him. Using it, the dark knight cleverly deflected the beams of lazer that was being shot at him back at the droids, slicing them in half or bursting them into flames as a result.

In the end, Batman ended up creating as much damage as a super-powered being despite being powerless himself, leaving a battalion of metal droid bodies burning in flames and smoke in his wake as he advanced, shooting at a larger battle droid with his grapple gun before yanking it back, taking out a bunch of droids with it.

Kara caught sight of Brainiac among the confusion below and instinctively shot at him, flying at rapid speeds before pulling back and kicking at his chest, sending him tumbling back slightly before she burst forth again, only to be swatted aside this time by Brainiac.

She slid to a halt on the floor by her hands and knees and looked up, shooting a blast of heat vision at him before flying forward and landing a punch on him. She raised her fist, roared and tried landing a second punch on him but the seven foot Coluan caught her punch head on, blocking it before swinging her around horizontally across and hurling her at the floor in front of him with enough force to make her disillusioned momentarily.

Kara lay there, groaning and caught sight of his green arm as he grabbed her by the hood of her sweat shirt, hoisting her over his head and he began to apply intense pressure on her body, pulling her head in one direction while yanking her legs in the other direction. Brainiac was essentially trying to rip her torso in half.

Her face was turned to the ceiling so when she began to shoot heat vision in an attempt to strike him, it proved to be ineffective as all she managed to strike was a part of the black ,metallic ceiling.

"You have been an impudence at my side too long, Half-breed. You will be terminated shortly.", Brainiac declared as Kara felt intense,searing pain shoot through her body as her muscles were being stretched to breaking point.

"ARGGGGHHHH!", she cried in pain as she writhed around, unable to do anything with her torso faced upwards, held in place by the green alien's coils as he pulled at her in opposite directions.

Clark , who was recovering from his ordeal at the hands of the green skinned Coluan, caught sight of Kara being tortured by Brainiac and roared in anger.

"KARA!", he roared and began struggling against his confines and Bruce watched in amazement as the pillar began to crack, giving off a bluish glow from the cracks and not a second later, the entire pillar split open, freeing the man of steel as she shot towards Brainiac , with his eyes glowing crimson, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

Before Brainiac knew what was happening, he was shot in the side with a blast of intense crimson energy and he was blasted off his feet, dropping Kara to the floor in the process as he doubled over, groaning in pain. Clark's heat vision was a lot more intense that Kara's and therefore , had twice the impact.

And by the time Brainiac had recovered, Clark was already at his side, landing repetitive blows on the alien as the green Coluan tried to land a strike, unable to as the man of steel ducked and zipped to another position, repeating his action. He was incredibly fast, second to only the flash himself.

Clark ducked under Brainiac's arm before catching a hold of his green head by inserting his fingers into the data ports and spinning on his heel, sending him hurling at the ceiling, where upon he crashed with a resounding impact, plummeting back down to the floor.

Kara and Clark advanced on the Coluan while Bruce was taking on a horde of droids that were converging on him and the domed cities he was trying to protect from harm. The dark knight zipped around, hurling detonator disks at the droids as they burst into flames, upon being impaled. He then spun around , shot his line launcher at the droid's feet, tying the string around them from the momentum of the throw , sending them crashing to the floor upon loosing their balance. He then whipped around, shooting more detonators at the droids, bursting them into flames.

As Kara raised her fist to punch Brainiac, he swatted her aside , sending her crashing into the wall nearby, groaning upon impact. Seeing his cousin getting hurt, Clark's eyes lit up crimson .

"You're done.", the man of steel chided .

"Foolish Kryptonian trash.", Brainiac replied coldly before catching a hold of Clark by his collar and hoisting him overhead and hurling him across the hall, crashing straight through the wall,into the hall next door.A trail of smoke followed Clark from the derelict wall that had been broken open upon impact with the Kryptonian.

Brainiac stepped out of the derelict wall , his imposing dark silhouette against the plume of smoke from the debris.

As Clark lay there, groaning, a metallic pod hovered in over head and silvery metallic coils branched out from the sides of the oval shaped pod, extending down and entwining itself around the Kryptonian's body as Brainiac approached .

The coils entangled around Clark's limbs and neck and began to tighten , strangling the victim as well as electrocuting Clark simultaneously, forcing the man of steel to roar out in pain as the electricity ran through him.

"All of your efforts prove to be futile, Kryptonian.",Brainiac droned on as the coils around Clark pulled harder at his limbs in opposite directions.

Just then a blast of crimson energy shot past Brainiac's head, straight at the pod , bursting it into flames in a small explosion that echoed through the hall.

Instantly the coils that were wound around Clark eased up as Brainiac whipped around at Kara, who floated into the room.

"Half-breed. Your time is up. Damnation is upon you.", Brainiac cursed and shot towards her, punching her with such force that she rocketed back across the room, eyes shut from impact, straight into a battalion of droids, easing up the number that Bruce was taking on to defend the miniaturized cities.

Coils connected to the many data ports long Brainiac's body, from his head to those on his suit as he made to follow Kara out .

He caught a hold of her as she tried to duck out of the way, and rained down punches on her body, denting the floor she laid on due to the force with which the green Coluan was landing blows on the teenager. Blood spurted out of her mouth due to impact as she lay there, groaning.

Clark finally recovered from his stupor and glanced up to see the Coluan destroying his cousin as she lay motionless on the floor.

"KARA!", Clark roared out in rage and shot forward before taking in a deep breath and blowing out with such ferocity that his ice breath not only froze Brainiac's coils and his suit, but also sent him crashing off of Kara and into a wall, where he was stuck with a blanket of thick ice that encased around his body, sparing just his head.

In the confusion, Kara picked herself up, groaning and she looked up to see her cousin flying straight at the immobile form of the green alien frozen to the wall before Clark punched at Brainiac,with such force that he broke open the wall with him on impact in the concussive force and both of them shot straight through the wall, breaking open a hole in the ship and plummeted out of view.

Kara gripped her left rib, groaning in pain as she picked herself up. She definitely looked battered . Her hair was sprawled in an untidy manner, falling in random directions, there were bruises on her face, her clothing was torn in various areas and her lip was cut open. She felt intense pain in many areas where she had been hit .All in all, she had better days.

Kara looked down to nurse her pain and her eyes shot wide open in shock.

Her feet were hovering inches above the floor and she didn't know how to control it. In fact, throughout the fight, her brain had failed to register that she had been flying. Her emotional response to sensing Clark about to get killed had triggered her flight ability in her subconscious .

"Wh-Whoa!", Kara gasped, unsure of what to do as she spun her hands around like a windmill, trying to gain control of her powers. Her rapid motion only resulted in her spinning mid air to where her head was where her feet should have been and she was hovering upside down. She gradually began to float upward involuntarily.

Just as she was about to float to an unstable electrical panel in the ceiling, she heard a grapple gun being shot and out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Bruce's figure and seconds later, his grapple line had wound itself around her ankles, and he was tugging her back down to floor level.

/

Clark and Brainiac was entangled in a shower of strikes and blows they rained down on each other as both of them plummeted from the main ship, falling down to the massive city sized crater in the earth where Metropolis had been.

Blow after blow, Punch retaliated with a punch until Clark landed one solid blow that knocked Brainiac a few feet away from the force. Enraged, as the Coluan came spinning back around, he caught Clark's next punch head on and wrapped both his palms around Superman's neck , choking him and directed him downward so that Brainiac was on top and Clark would take the full impact of the fall.

Both of them plummeted with Clark being unable to fly away due to be locked in a death grip by Brainiac, and seconds later, both of them crashed into the massive crater. Upon impact, a massive cloud of dust and debris coarsed around, spreading over a wide radius .

/

"I...I CAN FLY!", she cried jubilantly and proudly as all her tension began to weigh off her shoulders. In fact, there were too many thoughts running through her mind for her to feel anything proper. This was the one power she had really been looking forward to having.

Then, her smile faltered and she looked around at the dark knight as he gave her a stern expression.

"H..How can I fly? I've never done it before.", Kara stammered, unable to contain her excitement and at the same time unable to understand how she had finally done the one thing she had tried so hard to do all this while.

"I don't know.", Bruce replied.

"Sometime an extreme emotional response may trigger your subconscious to access the one thing that may be of use at that moment in time. In this case, hearing Clark in pain may have triggered your subconscious to access your flight ability so that you could get to him fast. ", Bruce continued.

"Oh..I'm just too tired to process what you just said but..okay.", Kara panted, giving him a small smile, feeling elated, at the very least. Now she could fly. She still couldn't wrap her head around it.

Just then , a robotic voice echoed through the ship.

" _Initiating Solar Aggressor...Launching Solar Aggressor.",_ , the voice droned on.

A second later, both Kara and Bruce whipped around to see some sort of metallic missile , inserted into a catch, being locked into place on something of a launching pad as a hatch opened up on the ceiling of the spacecraft, exposing the starry skies above.

"Damn it.",Bruce muttered.

* * *

 **Let me know what you guys think of this chapter so far! The original chapter was a lot longer and dragging so I decided to cut the chapter in two. I'll release the continuation soon! Till next time!**


	9. Chapter 9 - The Girl Of Steel

**Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Nine - The Girl Of Steel**

* * *

"Damn it.", Bruce muttered as the imposing metallic missile was locked and inserted into the launching catch, ready for ignition.

"What the hell is a solar aggressor?", Kara groaned.

"Don't know. But you can be damned well sure it's not good.", Bruce added as he switched on the scanning system built into his cowl. He ran the scanner up and down the missile as the machine prepped for launch.

Bruce's eyes widened in shock upon analyzing the components within the missile.

"Most of it's casing is made of extraterrestrial material I've never come across before but...It's got point five-five grams of plutonium and Uranium two-three-five, both components of a nuclear bomb. Combined with whatever the hell the other metals are , I'm guessing it's some kind of bomb to take out the sun.", Bruce replied as Kara's jaw dropped in shock.

But she didn't have any time to question Batman any further as the launch was prepped and locked. Kara and Bruce stepped away as the end of the missile began firing up and a second later, the eight foot missile shot out of the ship, heading straight towards the giant yellow ball of burning gas at the speed of sound.

"That missile. If it's hits the sun, It'll destroy the earth. And every other planet in the milky way.", Bruce replied as the smoke from the launch evaporated.

"What about the cities that maniac has collected? I think I saw Metropolis in there somewhere.", Kara said, whipping around to see the glass domes containing the miniaturized cities within.

"I'll take care of that. Superman's busy with the alien. You try and stop that missile before it hits the sun. I'll get Hal Jordan to go with you.", Bruce said in a commanding voice as as he handed her an ear piece.

"On it!", Kara said with a determined face before sprinting off, jumping after a few paces to try and launch herself skyward.

She landed back down on her first attempt.

"Come on, Kara!", she chided to herself and repeated the jump, running forward simultaneously.

Then, on the third attempt, she finally shot skyward with a powerful leapt and she burst through the ceiling of the ship.

Once outside, she hovered on the spot momentarily, her face lighting up with joy that she was finally able to fly consciously.

"I DID IT!', she roared victoriously through her bruises and bloodied clothing.

"Kara. Focus on the mission.", Bruce's voice radioed in from the ear piece he had given her.

"Right.", she replied before extending her arms out in front of her and shooting forward, creating a boom in the air from the force with which she shot forward.

/

Brainiac panted as he got to his feet. The dust from their fall had now settle and they were standing in a massive crater of dirt and debris. Brainiac had one sore weakness. Once outside his ship, the green Coluan was vulnerable.

He was the first to get up and walked over to Clark as the latter was slowly getting to his feet, panting. Brainiac hoisted the man of steel off his feet and hung his from his collar.

"Impudent Kryptonian trash. ", Brainiac said and this time, Clark thought he sensed the Coluan getting infuriated.

Brainiac punched Clark straight across the Jaw and sent him flying across the ground, crashing into the ground thrice due to the speed at which he was being hurled before he finally crashed into a rocky ledge .

Brainiac floated over to him and began pummeling him with punches.

"You brought me down to this filthy planet, Kryptonian.", Brainiac scoffed before punching Clark in the abdomen, forcing the man of steel to elicit a spurt of blood from his mouth due to the force.

The Coluan walked up to Clark as the man of steel was on his knees, panting with his head hung low.

"I will end you now. ", Brainiac declared and was halfway through to landing a solid blow on Clark when the man of steel took the green Coluan by shock when he caught his fist, blocking the punch head on.

"You know. I've seen your weakness.",Clark panted through a smirk before landing a solid blow on the alien's chest, sending him flying across the ground.

Clark flew in close to him and rained down punches in super speed.

"I ...saw it...when you were...scanning my brain..opened your's up to mine...downloading my knowledge..", Clark continued as he grabbed Brainiac and hurled him straight through a rocky stack in the ground, crumbling it to dust as the green Coluan crashed through it.

Brainiac roared in frustration as he burst out from under the rubble. He picked up a giant boulder the size of a suburban house and hurled it at Clark, who burst it to dust using his heat vision. Brainiac, rocketed forward, and both were engaged in a match of punches and kicks before Clark ducked under his blows and swerved up behind him , locking him in a grip , putting his arms out of motion as they were locked in the man of steel's hold.

"You don't really know any of the worlds you conquer. ", Clark said with a tired smirk before making contact with the Coluan in the middle of his back with his fist, sending the alien flying across the valley, crashing to the ground over seventy feet away.

"You only know the limited, bottle up versions of the cities you take. Nothing more, nothing less.", Clark continued on as he flew in close to the alien as he groaned in pain, getting to his feet.

"You have data, scientific knowledge at your disposal. But you have no real value of life.", Clark chided as he ducked out from one of Brainiac's punches, landing one of his own on the alien's back.

Brainiac gritted his teeth and whipped around, catching the man of steel around his neck, strangling him.

"Surrender and come with me or I will terminate the human specimen population I have collected. Your choice, Son of Krypton.", Brainiac chided as Clark's eyes widened in shock.

"I'll stop you and then save the cities you've collected. All of them.", Clark grunted through the strangle hold.

"Disgusting.I do not need to concern myself with this putrid planet and neither do you hold any significance to me , only thing that is keeping you alive is the fact that I require a specimen Kryptonian for my collection.", Brainiac responded.

Clark managed to smirk through his strangle hold .

"Really?", he scoffed and before Brainiac knew what was happening, Clark grabbed a fist full of mud in his palm and hurled it at the Koluan's eyes, blinding him, sending the alien reeling and tumbling backwards as he failed to comprehend what was happening.

"Ahh!. G-get this off me! What is this?", Brainiac yelled in fear as he couldn't see.

"Yeah. That , my big green friend, is dirt. ", Clark responded as Brainiac, slipped and fell head first into a mucky sludge down a shallow cliff.

He got up and began to stare at his muck covered arm with a horrified expression written on his face.

"Wha-What is this filth?!", Brainiac yelled in horror.

"You know, you're really dim-witted for one who claims to know all?", Clark said and before Brainiac could respond, Clark grabbed onto the collar of his black suit and and shot skyward, dragging the shocked Coluan with him.

Clark had figured out that he couldn't defeat Brainiac with punches. The only way was to overload his brain with information . And he knew exactly where to go to access such a wide range of information.

The world internet hub in Geneva, Switzerland.

/

Kara shot past the Watchtower , chasing after the solar aggressor missile . Hal Jordan and J'onn were the only two just leaguers not trapped within Brainiac's dome aboard the ship . Hal had just received the transmission from Batman and he took off, chasing after the rocket to help Kara try and stop it. A green skinned, freckled faced teenaged martian girl with flaming red hair approached her uncle as J'onn watched Kara and Hal Jordan chasing after the rocket, with Kara flying much faster at the speed of sound.

/

Clark had reached the building of the world internet hub ,flying across the oceans at super sonic speeds , dragging an overwhelmed Brainiac with him.

He hovered in over the building and slammed the base of his palm onto Brainiac's chest, sending him crashing into the building, which conveniently had a Justice League department , curtsy of Batman . Clark flew in after the green Coluan to find him scrambling about in the rubble, infuriated at being treated like this.

Before Brainiac could utter another word, Clark caught a hold of his black suit and slammed his fist onto his nose, sending the Coluan crashing back , straight through a glass pane.

/

Kara grunted as she shot straight through a large asteroid, crumbling it to dust as she punched her way through it.

The missile and the girl of steel had now rocketed past the burning hot planet of mercury as they both approached the giant yellow ball of gas that was the center of the milky way. Kara reached out her arms forward in an attempt to increase her speed and soon enough, she caught up with the missile, clinging onto the missile with her fingers dug into the metal as her hair billowed behind her, the missile travelling at super speeds.

Clark made this kind of stuff look a lot easier than it really was.

She roared as she tried to pull the missile away from it's path, trying to divert it away from the sun. Just then, a translucent, emerald glowing giant lasso appeared and wound up around the missile's body. Craning her neck, she saw the figure of Hal Jordan , holding his arm bearing the ring as he struggled to pull out the body of the missile.

He had two emerald , transparent missiles connected to a belt that was strapped as a harness onto his torso, with the rockets flying in the opposite direction of the sun's gravitational pull.

"THOUGHT YOU COULD USE THE HELP!", Hal yelled as he struggled to sway the missile away from the sun, without much luck.

Kara nodded and looked back forward.

"YOU GOT LASER EYES, KID?!", Hal yelled all of a sudden.

"YEAH!", Kara yelled across, not sure why the green lantern wanted to know this information at this crucial of a time.

"GOOD. WE MAY NEED IT TO TRY AND DIVERT THE MISSILE OFF PATH.", Hall yelled back.

He pointed at a bronze rectangular section of the missile, no larger than an average sized car.

"SEE THAT COMPARTMENT!?", Hal yelled as Kara nodded.

"I'M GUESSING IT STORES THE MISSILE'S PRIMARY TARGETING CIRCUITRY. TAKE THAT OUT AND WE MAY BE ABLE TO DIVERT THIS THING OFF COURSE FASTER!", Hal yelled and Kara understood what he was getting at.

Hal let go of his hold on the missile and hovered backward as Kara furrowed her brows, concentrating hard as a focused beam of heat vision shot out of her blue irsises, straight at the panel indicated by Hal , and not a moment later, something within the missile fried and a mini explosion could be heard .

A moment later, a plume of grey smoke began to drift out of the bronze panel and trailed behind them as Kara and the missile entered the sun's burning hot gravitational pull.

Kara let of her hold on the missile and shot forward, towards the side of the eight foot long missile, digging her fingers into its metal body as she shoved at the metal with all her strength. Kara clenched her teeth and roared under the pressure as she struggled to push the rocketing missile away from the sun's gravitational pull. With the missile's targeting systems fried, it was no longer resisting her push but it didn't make the job any less easy.

With much effort, she was finally able to get the missile to change direction, slowly drifting it away from the big ball of burning gas.

The toxic gases of the solar flares began to irritate Kara as she slowly extended her arms to full length, pushing the missile away from the sun's path until it was completely out of the way. She had managed to force the rocketing missile to curve leftward.

Once she had cleared the missile off of the sun's direction, Kara increased her flight speed, grabbing the rocket's body and with all her strength, gave it a boost, sending it out of the sun's gravitational pull, into Hal's reach.

The green lantern threw up his fist and formed a large, spherical casing around the missile and not a second later, the missile exploded with enough ferocity to make the green lantern grit his teeth as she struggled to keep his construct solid against the force of the explosion.

Kara wanted to smile at being able to stop the catastrophe of such a magnitude but all of a sudden, she began to feel slightly nauseated. Kara felt claustrophobic and her lungs began to struggle, claw for air to breathe and she began to wheeze due to the suffocation that was the vacuum of space. She couldn't breathe, choking and rasping over herself and before she could cry out for help, she felt her vision getting blurry and her eyesight began to dim with figures blackening around her.

Hal dematerialized his construct as the debris of the missile floated out and into the vast expanse of space.

"Nice job, Kid. We might make a sick team. You ever wanna do this agai-", Hal was remarking before he drifted off, seeing Kara's figure floating motionless in space with her head hanging backwards off her shoulders.

"KID!", the green lantern yelled in shock , wondering what happened as she sped to her side.

/

Clark zipped around, plugging data cords into the many data ports along Brainiac's body and had begun to feed him with the infinite data and information processed over the world wide web.

"I always thought the web was used by teenagers for time wasting. Guess there's a good side to it now, isn't there?", Clark remarked with a sarcastic tone as he diverted the power supply.

"Wha..What is all this ? ", Brainiac stammered as he tried to rip out the cords, only for Clark to land a blow and punch the cord back in.

"Yeah. It's a lot isn't it?", Clark taunted.

" Figured overloading with data was one way to take you out.", Clark scoffed.

Brainiac roared uneasily , bursting up , landing one solid blow on Clark and ripped the cords off his body.

"I will not succumb to a mere Kryptonian,Trash.",Brainiac chided as he broke out of the rectangular glass containment Clark had put him in to over load him **.**

Your attempts at subduing me has instead given me all the access codes to the satellite defense systems that seek to protect this putrid planet. Instead of wasting my energy against you, I will force you into submission using one of the creations of the humans you so love. ", Brainiac remarked and before Clark could respond, the data ports on the Coluan's head began to glow brightly and the next second, one of the lex corp defense satellite hovering over the globe suddenly changed it's course and directed it's weaponry, targeting onto a specific Kryptonian.

As Clark flew forward to punch Brainiac, he was suddenly hit by a blue beam of thick, intense plasma energy that seemingly came from the skies above, breaking straight through the building, destroying the league sector of the hub entirely in an instant. The beam of energy struck the man of steel down to the ground as it continued for almost five whole seconds before it paused.

Clark groaned as he picked himself up, smoke trailing from his body from the impact of the high energy weaponized beam.

Before he could get fully to his feet, Brainiac trudged forward and landed one solid blow on Clark's chin, sending him tumbling back across the floor, crashing straight through the building wall and finally coming to a halt on the mountain side outside, in the snowy weather.

"If this were any other time, I wouldn't even waste my time upon you. You are all strength and no knowledge. You are the least desirable specimen of a Kryptonian I could collect. But, since your entire species is extinct, you will have to should count yourself lucky, Kryptonian, for I have no which to terminate you...Yet.",Brainiac chided as he floated out, towards Clark as he finally got to his feet.

"Glad to hear that.", Clark remarked before flying up and shooting forward to try and land a solid blow on the Coluan. But he was just halfway before an F-thirteen Wayne tech armory, that was stationed as protection for the world internet hub faculty, shot one of ATF missiles at Clark, exploding with much tenacity upon impact with the man of steel.

Clark was slightly shaken and looked around for his attacker, mad rage clouding his logical judgment.

"You exposing me to your connections did not turn out as you had hoped. After a minor setback of being exposed to such nonsense, I was able to focus in and gain access to the many weapon codings your impudent humans had to offer. And by the looks of it, you do not seem to be faring any better against their meager weapons, Son of Krypton.", Brainiac taunted as another missile shot at Clark, forcing the man in blue to throw up his arm to his face to reduce the impact .

Four or five more missiles rained down on Clark as he tried to make a move on Brainiac. Explosion after explosion forced the man of steel onto the back foot and at that moment, Brainiac, even though out of his element, seemed invincible, able to control many of the justice league's and military's weapon systems and use them on Superman, tiring him down as the man in blue hurtled through the air in random directions due to being hit by missiles from various directions.

"You see, I have discovered your glaring weakness. Your...affection for these humans forces you to hold yourself back on account for their safety. Affection is a weakness I do not possess. I will exploit your weakness, Son of Krypton.", Brainiac chided as he shot forward and began punching the energy drained superman left, right and center before grabbing him by the throat and choke slamming him to the ground.

Clark roared and grabbed Brainiac by the collar of his suit before spinning on his heel, sending the Coluan rocketing away , crashing into a building nearby.

Clark rose up, hovering momentarily with his body horizontal to the floor below him.

"You're a monster, Brainiac. And I'm gonna stop you.", Clark declared before thrusting his fists forward, shooting straight for the green alien.

"I think not.", Brainiac responded before a greenish beam of light struck Clark head on from the building that Brainiac had been thrown into.

Upon impact, Clark felt suddenly weak and he shot backwards, crashing into the ground as a trail of smoke and dust rose up around him.

Clark knew that feeling. The one thing that would make him weak beyond reason. Kryptonite.

Glancing up , Clark's guess was right. The building that he had thrown Brainiac into was a Lex Labs facility and the shrude business man was bound to store some form of Kryptonite .

As Clark tried to land a strike , another blast of Kryptonite beam struck the man of steel squarely in the abdomen area, forcing him to crouch on the ground, clutching his stomach in pain.

It was impeccable. Clark had thought he had the upper hand just minutes ago when he was overloading Brainiac's brain with data from the web but now, he wasn't even able to land a proper blow.

"Submit to me, Kryptonian trash. I do not have time for this.", Brainiac declared as he floated towards Clark.

Then, as the man of steel struggled to get to his feet under the influence of the Kryptonite beam shot at him, an F thirty-one missile was shot from somewhere in the sky .

It wasn't heading for the bruised Superman. No. It was seconds away from making contact with Brainiac, who had a shocked look on his face.

Upon impact, the entire sector seemingly exploded to bits, taking the surrounding buildings with it. The lex corp Kryptonite beam was also seemingly destroyed in the impact, freeing the man of steel from it's weakening stare.

The shockwaves of the blast was so strong that Clark was blown off from it's vicinity, crashing straight through a building, ending up on the other side of the compound.

The bomb was only slightly less impactful than a grade A nuclear weapon.

As the smoke cleared, nothing could be seen. The green Coluan was nowhere to be seen.

Clark groaned as he picked himself up. He had bruises and gashes all over his body and his suit was ripped open halfway.

He looked up to see the batwing lowering down to his level. Batman had his lips pursed , emotionless as always.

"You could've killed civilians. ", Clark wheezed through his pain.

"You let him into the world wide web, giving him access to all government weaponry codings, was on a mad rampage to get Kara back ,not caring about the safety of others at your possible loss and you think what I did was irresponsible? ", Batman chided , not losing his cool.

"Besides. Most of the civilians already cleared the sector upon your battle with the alien. ", Bruce assured him as Clark let out a sigh of relief.

"Without their creator on board the ship, the droids stopped multiplying. ", Bruce added from his cockpit. But Clark had something else on his mind. He wanted to know how Kara was doing. But before he could ask the question, there was an echoing boom from where the bomb had impacted and upon wheeling around, the two of them spotted a metallic being rise out of the dust and debris.

It had a body and facial structure that was eerily similar to that of Brainiac, except that it looked far more robotic and honestly, more terrifying than before. There was no mistaking those data ports that lined along his head. Brainiac stood there with most of his green skin torn off due to the force of the bomb dropped on him ,but remnants of the green hung on his body, torn into fragments, stretched across a metallic inner body such as across his bicep areas and on his chest.

"You'll pay for that, Human.", Brainiac roared and for the second time that moment, the green Coluan had lost his emotionless voice.

As the two of them watched, the data ports along Brainiac's head and body began to glow in a rhythmic fashion and metal components, computer parts and other such paraphernalia lying around flew up from their positions and attached themselves seemingly onto Brainiac, molding onto his metallic figure.

"Shit.", Bruce muttered .

The green being was no more. Instead, in his place, stood a much more imposing metal being, with glowing purple data ports running in symmetrical patterns along his head as his red eyes glowed brighter, with various sorts of weaponry being armed along his shoulder and his forearms.

Then, without warning, one of Brainiac's new weaponry shot straight for Bruce as the dark knight made to try and steer away, out of the missile's path.

At the last moment, Clark managed to get his palms onto the missile and crushed it's body inwards with his brute strength, simultaneously making the missile explode in his face.

Irritated, Brianiac shot skyward, the point of his attacks focused on Bruce as the dark knight swerved and ducked his aircraft to avoid the alien's attacks.

"Seems like I've got his attention now. ",Bruce remarked as he shot flares at the now armored Coluan. Simultaneously, jet propulsions at Brainiac's feet activated and he rose skyward, following the batwing as he rose his arm, readying some form of weaponry mounted.

Clark rocketed through the skies towards Brainiac , wrapping his arms around Brainiac's waist to throw the alien's shot off target as Bruce managed to evade Brainiac's blast.

"Impudent Kryptonian. You have thrawted me for the last time. ", Brainiac proclaimed before spinning around midair . He then shot a beam of intense radiation that struck Clark head on, sending the Kryptonian plummeting back to earth, crashing to the ground, cracking it open.

Brainiac , now clear of Clark, pursued the batwing , and upon locating it, locked onto target and shot a missile at it.

"Damn it.", Bruce cursed before he opened the hatch and leapt out, gliding away at his aerial vehicle exploded with a resounding boom behind him.

Upon landing, Bruce planted a few EMP mines in the snow below him and sprinted to a vantage point, behind a derelict building as Brainiac approached, slamming his foot to the ground upon landing.

"Your complacent attempts at retreating amuse me, your time is up.", Brainiac taunted as he scanned stomped around. He then locked onto Bruce's heat signature and armed the blaster on his shoulder.

Simultaneously, Bruce slammed down on the EMP detonator and before Brainiac could shoot his weapon, he was caught in an electrical surge that surrounded him, rooting him to the spot.

Bruce then hurled three explosion disks that impaled the Coluan's metallic armory and exploded, sending Brainiac crashing backwards through a derelict Swiss town motel.

Clark flew in, landing next to Bruce .

"EMP shots. He may have been invulnerable to it before, but his new set of armor and tech is not.", Bruce remarked as he roped up his grappler gun and inserted it into a socket behind him.

"We need to stop him before he evolves again or something. ", Clark panted

Just then, both of them heard an explosion and seconds later, Brainiac's metallic figure shot out of the debris, rocketing straight towards Clark and Bruce.

"I can't get a clear area to use my freeze breath on him...I think I got an idea. But get out of the way.", Clark warned before charging straight at Brainiac.

Brainiac slammed his fist at Clark's face but the latter did the same. Both were engaged in a violent fist fight before Clark found a gap and he shot heat vision at the Coluan, sending the alien shooting skywards. And before Brainiac could attack any further, Clark shot after him, extending his fists out in front of him before slamming them together on Brainiac's abdomen area. He was taking the Coluan higher and higher.

A blaster rose out of Brainiac's left shoulder and he shot an intense bluish beam at Clark, sending the man of steel cartwheeling backwards aerially before he slowed himself down and shot back upwards.

Three more blasters prepped themselves out of Brainiac's armor and shot plasma radiation blasts and missiles at the man of steel, forcing him to fly around, ducking it's shots.

One of the Coluan's green beams of energy managed to find it's target, striking Superman straight in the chest, forcing him to grunt in pain as the beam shot him back downwards before the man of steel unleashed an intense beam of crimson energy from his eyes that countered the green beam, allowing him passage.

Soon enough, Clark had force Brainiac on the back foot as the metallic Coluan flew higher and higher, unwittingly making his armory more and more vulnerable.

Then, the inevitable happened. Brainiac had spent all his resources up in his ship analyzing human specimens and only what he saw on the ground level that he completely ignored the planet's own characteristics and features. Due to his arrogant ignorance, he had completely overlooked the fact that metal and other such objects would start to ice and freeze over once it entered the stratosphere. Hence, the Coluan was in for a shock when the ice began to creep into his makeshift armor , disengaging his weaponry offline .

"What is this?!", Brainiac demanded as he shook his arm, trying to reignite his blasters, to no avail.

Clark wore a smirk on his face as he shot forward and began raining down punches and shots of heat vision on the alien as they continued to rise skywards.

"You claim to know everything but you only know the small , artificial version of planets that you store in your ship. You completely ignore the many wonders of the planets you invade and destroy and I noticed this when you entered my mind. You lack of disregard allows me to exploit the fact and use your ignorance against you, Brainiac.", Clark remarked as he tore two of Brainiac's blasters off his armor casing.

"You know of my freezing ability and you know that cold temperatures freezes your metal armor. But you had no idea that by flying higher and higher, you exposed yourself to freezing temperatures. You did to yourself what you were trying to stop me form doing , Brainiac. ", Clark scoffed as he dug his knee into Brainiac's abdomen, creating a hole in his armor.

"What!?", the metallic Coluan scoffed in bafflement. Simultaneously,the thrusters at his feet went offline and he began to plummet back down to earth. With his suit and his armor destroyed, Brainiac had no way of flying anymore and he was at Clark's mercy and Superman too complete advantage of this.

He flew along with Brainiac and bean to fly in a circular patter around him at incredible speeds, so much so that Clark became a blur .

As Brainiac yelled in panic and clawed at the blur of blue around him, unable to catch the man of steel, Clark rushed in and began punching Brainiac, tearing his armor apart to the point where the only piece of armor left on Brainiac was the thick, metallic alloy that surrounded a glowing black cube in the Coluan's head.

His brain.

Clark rocketed forth, roaring as he shot a crimson beam of energy at Brainiac to keep him distracted before Clark ripped open the armor encasing Brainiac's head section. Having done that, he reached in and dug his fingers straight into Brainiac's data ports, holding it like one would to a bowling ball before pulling hard at it with all his strength.

He could feel the metal fibers on the Coluan's metallic head stretching, giving way as the two of them plummeted back to earth.

Then, with one final tug, Clark ripped the black cube from the head and as a result of having his brain, his source ripped from his body, Brainiac's metallic body exploded violently, throwing up a cloud of black smoke, fire and metal debris that crashed down to earth in fire.

Bruce, who was watching the scene from below gasped as some of the debris was racing his way. He aimed his grapple gun and yanked himself out of harm's way, crashing violently into a building wall .

Metallic debris was raining down everywhere after the resounding explosion that echoed vehemently through the air, dispersing the remnants of what used to be Brainiac in different directions across the snowy field. Thank god this sector of Switzerland was abandoned or else the league would have had some explaining to do as to why there was metallic debris littered everywhere due to their actions.

Once the showering of smoke and metal had ceased, Batman emerged out of the dust, a transparent oxygen mask fitted onto his nose and mouth area, helping him to breath properly through the smoke and fumes around him.

The area around him was devastating. What used to be white snow was now greyish and black as a result of soot, dust and extraterrestrial contaminants from what used to be Brainiac. Parts of him that were still active was too hot for the snow to handle hence they melted the now underneath them, sinking out of view into the blanket of grey surrounding the batman.

Clark silently flew down , landing softly on the snow next to him. He had seen better days. His suit was ripped in many places, he had evident bruises and injures along his face and body, his hair was stuck up in untidy directions and there were four circular etch marks on his forehead where Brainiac's probes had connected to him. Unlike a human's Clark's Kryptonian blood allowed him to heal much faster . This was another feature that he possessed and Kara, due to her dual planetary heritage, did not.

"I though you didn't kill.", Bruce simply stated, looking upon the man of steel.

"I didn't. ", Clark simply replied, holding up the black cube with the familiar data ports along it's body. It was only the size of one's fist.

"We should keep it in an airtight non conductable containment unit. To be safe.", Clark suggested as he gripped his sore arm, panting.

Bruce took the cube in his hand and looked it over.

"Welcome to earth.", the dark knight remarked to the lifeless cube.

* * *

It was a rainy night, with torrential rain , billowing down on the streets. No person was insane enough to venture out in this bad of a feather condition. Kara didn't know where she was but she felt really small. She turned around in her sky blue blankets and began to cry as she felt cold in the freezing winds. She could see one glaring light bulb flickering in the ceiling above her.

All of a sudden, she thought she heard someone crying silently beside her. A voice. A female voice. She tried to crane her neck to get a good look at the person next to her but she could barely reach out of the wicker basket she was put in.

In her strain and frustration, she began to wail , throwing her arms around. Just then, a large shadow was cast over her as the silhouette of a female figure bent down.

" ...shh...Remember. Never forget who you are, matter what happens to me or wherever I go. I'll always love you, my little girl.", a calming female voice whispered before the figure bent down and planted a wet kiss on Kara's forehead. Kara didn't see much of the female but she caught sight of a flash of blonde hair.

Then, some big white papery substance, rough to the touch, was inserted in between her tiny arms and then the blur of a blonde woman paused for one moment , as if she was looking at Kara longingly before she got up, vanishing from view. Then, a moment later, she heard the sound of a doorbell ringing and then came the sounds of quick and hushed footsteps.

Then nothing.

* * *

A searing pain surged through Kara's right temple . She could feel a slight heaviness in her lung area. But it was a lot less than what it was the last time she had been conscious. She could sense the soft feeling of a warm bed underneath her. She could hear muffled voices in her vicinity though it did feel like it was from another room. She could smell the slightly nauseating aroma of roses nearby.

She was allergic to roses. Apparently nobody knew this yet.

Where was she?

Rubbing her eyes, she finally got up, sitting upright in her bed and had a look around.

She seemed to be in a hospital ward of some sort. Looking down, she saw that she was dressed in new, warm , full sleeved clothing that she did not was wearing a fashionable purplish full sleeved sweater that hung low , exposing her shoulders. Her purple sweater was paired with emerald green leggings. From the fashionable look of the clothing, Kara had to guess that this belonged to Kori. It couldn't be Raven's either, for most of the clothing she owned was black or dark bluish.

The room had walls painted a sky blue tint with no curtains or windows. From the formal appearance of the room, Kara guessed that this was no hospital ward. It had to be somewhere in the Hall of Justice.

There was a steaming cup of hot coffee and bread on a table next to the bed she was lying on. Next to it was a bouquet of flowers wrapped into a package with the entire Titans team wishing her well written on it.

It felt nice. She had never had anyone do this for her had friends.

Grabbing the sides of her bed, she flung the white blanket off of her torso and tentatively placed her feet on the cold marble floor. She didn't feel the cold but she still knew it was cold. It was a weird and indescribable sensation, knowing it to be cold but not being able to feel it anymore.

Reaching out, she took a sip of the steaming hot liquid in the cup on the table , placing the metal cup down before standing up and stretching out her back . The last thing she remembered was getting claustrophobic, feeling choked , devoid of air and passing out . She had so many questions. She needed some answers.

Slowly, she edged out of the room , slightly off her balance and pressed down on the switch to unlock the door.

/

"So..You're saying that there was nothing wrong with me? You think I just passed out because I couldn't breathe?", Kara asked in disbelief at what Bruce had just told her.

"Yes.".

Kara exchanged an incredulous glances with her cousin brother.

"Hold on. I've got all of superman's powers but I can't fly in space?", Kara asked again, slightly bummed out .

"Not exactly. You _can_ fly in space and you possess most of the other powers that Clark possesses. Except, your human DNA renders some of your internal body systems more similar to us than it is to him. ", Bruce explained.

"Meaning?...", Kara pushed on, shrugging.

"Meaning, you, just like all us humans, will need an artificial gas supplier for you to breathe properly in the vacuum of space. Your dual planetary heritage will more than likely give you some weaknesses, however minor, that Superman does not may have some powers that you may not have.",Bruce clarified before he turned back to the brightly lit, metallic containment unit composed of some sort of non electricity conducting material.

Half of the containment was metallic whereas the half of it was made of Wayne tech prototype glass that was even resistant to the flash's phasing ability. Within the unit was a singular metallic cube with purplish data ports that ceased to glow.

Brainiac.

"We'll be transporting the cube to a high security containment unit in the Watchtower once we get the all clear. ", Bruce declared before he typed in the coding into the holographic keypad . Instantly, the black cylindrical doors around the containment unit slid shut .

As Kara walked out of the hall , Bruce caught Clark by the shoulder.

"You wrecked the Justice league's inter comms unit in the world internet hub in Switzerland. You owe a few million dollars worth of equipment.", Bruce said with a smirk.

"Could take a while. Reporter's salary.",Clark replied with a taunting smile before walking out of the room.

"Always has to have the last laugh.", Bruce muttered to himself as he turned to walk away .

Unbeknownst to everyone, the data ports along the body of the cube that used to be Brainiac began to sparkle and glow weakly.

* * *

Kara found it hard to believe that she had been unconscious for almost four days straight since the attack by Brainiac.

Everything was now back to , mostly.

Metropolis was back where it should be, enlarged to it's normal size and no longer the size of a miniature and the martian manhunter had managed to reverse engineer that tech that miniaturized the city. Clark and Hal had taken the other remaining cities and had established a sort of make-shift civilization of cities from all the planets that the green Coluan had collected. They had found an inhabitable planet for all the cities in the nearby galaxy and Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner had offered to take the cities there to enlarge them back to normal.

The rest of the titans were all eager to meet Kara again, since Hal had told them of how she and he teamed up to stop the solar aggressor from destroying the sun. Kori was even more amazed when she was told of how Kara's flight had activated subconsciously.

But there was still one thing that was bugging Kara's mind and no matter what she tried, she couldn't push it down. That blonde blur of a woman from her vague vision. She felt familiar. Sounded...familiar. But Kara had no idea who she was, though she had an inkling about who she could possibly be.

"Clark..there's...something I've wanted to talk to you about..", Kara muttered as Clark was driving her back to the titan's tower .

"Sure..", Clark nodded, a little unsure of what his cousin , who was still weak from the events from four days prior, wanted to talk about.

Kara bit her lip, not sure about how to explain the vision she had.

"Clark...while I was..unconscious...I...sort of had this..vision..or dream...or something like that..", she began tentatively.

"oookay...", Clark nodded a bit unsurely.

"And..In my dream..I..was a child.. and..it was some really stormy night..", Kara continued. Clark nodded as he switched the gear and swerved around the bend.

"I was lying down in a basket, I think .I heard a woman crying next to me...She..was a blonde..like me..", Kara whispered coarsely, ramming her fingers on the dashboard.

"Did...you see what this woman looked like?", Clark asked quietly.

"No..", Kara shook her head. "The whole vision was kinda blurred out. I couldn't see her face. She put some letter in my hand , rang the doorbell of the building and ...ran off..", Kara finished in a whisper, crossing her arms across her chest uneasily.

Both cousins stayed quiet for a few prolonged moments as the radio in the car buzzed on.

"Do...Do you think that was my mother?", Kara asked quietly.

Clark pursed his lips, tapping the steering wheel with his index finger before letting out a sigh.

"Kara, I'm not sure. I never really met my aunt. I came to earth as an infant. So, sorry.I don't know who you saw.", Clark said .

Kara bit her lower lip , tucking a strand of golden hair behind her ear as she turned her head and gazed out the fogged up window.

If that woman really was who she thought she was, Kara didn't know whether she was furious at her for leaving her at the orphanage or long to meet her. She didn't even know whether or not to ignore her stupid dream altogether either, though she didn't want to.

Clark turned and smiled at her.

"But even if she was your mother or not, you'll always have a family with me. I just want you to know that. You can tell me whatever you want. ", Clark remarked.

Kara turned to him an gave him a warm smile.

/

Kara had just hugged all her teammates upon arrival and Clark had requested to talk alone with her before she joined the others.

"Kara..I know I haven't been the family you needed. More times than not I've been away being Superman than I was with you, being Clark Kent. And I'm sorry for that.I wanted to please you so badly as my sister and I wanted to be the perfect mentor to you that I ended up being the opposite of both. I never saw things from your perspective , being new to these powers and I'm sorry for that. ", Clark began.

"Hmnh..You're not the only one at fault here. I wanted to prove my worth badly not only to everyone else but also to myself, that I was worth being here, that I ended up doing things without thinking them through. I..wasn't accepting of myself before and felt insecure. The thing is..I don't feel that way anymore.I don't care If I'm more broad shouldered than other girls . I'm happy the way I am. ",Kara chimed in, swaying on the spot.

"You stopped a giant missile that could've destroyed the planet.I may not have earned the right to say this but..I'm proud to have you as my cousin sister. ", Clark replied , rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Kara looked at her brother fondly for a moment before wrapping her arms around him and lifting him off his feet in a tight hug.

"That's never happened to me before.", Clark chuckled as she put him down.

"First time for everything.", Kara laughed lightly with her brother.

"You know. You're always welcome to return and live with me back in Metropolis.", Clark said hopefully.

"Thanks..",Kara sighed, digging her hands into her pockets. "But these guys have kinda grown on me. I think I'll stick around for a little while longer.".

As Kara turned to leave, Clark suddenly remembered something that he had almost forgotten and he called her back.

"By the way.I almost forgot. Since you'll be with the titans from now on, I figured you could use a uniform.", Clark said with a smile before he rummaged inside his car and brought out some sort of bracelet.

It was a snap on , metallic bracelet with the 'S' insignia etched onto it. It looked sleek, Kara had to admit, but she didn't know how this was a uniform for her.

Seeing her unsure and confused expression, Clark chuckled scratching his chin as he inserted his hands into his pockets.

"It's a.. Kryptonian origin. Had Kal-X make it the other day. Based off of designs on female Kryptonian armor of the house of El.", Clark remarked.

As soon as Kara snapped on the bracelet, she felt a tingling sensation around her entire body and she felt surprisingly lightweight. Looking down, she was in for a shock.

She was not standing in the crop top tee shirt and red over shirt that she had initially worn but in some sort of blue costume.

It wasn't a costume. It was a uniform.

It was full sleeved bluish armored uniform that sported a slightly different version of the familiar red and yellow 'S' insignia on her 'S' sign differentiated from that worn by Clark as in it had a slab serif top paired with a pointed , slanting bottom whereas Clark's 'S-shield' was a lot more rounded.

The material of the uniform was unlike any type of clothing Kara owned . It was soft and comfortable but Kara could tell that it was just as hard as her skin was.

The uniform was designed like a unitard of sorts, with a reddish upside down triangle of a design etched into the uniform, underneath where he belly button should be. It basically looked like a really armored and stylish looking sky blue swim suit. There was a long flowing blood red cape with a golden materialized outline that was attached to the uniform, wrapped around her throat, covering over her shoulders , giving the thing a more official look. The cape ended somewhere around her knee area.

The blue uniform was complete with a pair of knee high crimson boots that had diamond shaped slits that exposed the knees.

All in all, it looked slightly like a female version of Superman's costume but it still looked different. And Kara was ecstatic.

"Consider it a gift.D'you like it?", Clark smiled, seeing her enthusiastic grin.

Kara held the hem of her cape and spun around, with a sharp intake of breath to emphasize her amazement.

"IT'S AMAZING! Well..I mean.. I could've gone for something that wasn't designed like a unitard..wait. it's not that..Clark. It's perfect. I..Thank you.", Kara stammered as she tried to contain her excitement.

Clark chuckled and gave her a hug.

"I don't know if I've earned it yet..but I will do my best .", Kara proclaimed with a warm smile. She hadn't felt this elated in a long time.

* * *

That evening, Kara lay in her room going through the sports magazines that were strewn over the floor. She had a lot of catching up to do. Just then, she heard Kori's voice through the newly fitted radio transmitters in each room.

"Titans, Please come to the common room.",Kori's voice buzzed out.

Wondering what was up, Kara picked herself up, ruffled her hair and walked out the door to join Raven on the way up.

/

As they reached the landing , Kara immediately noticed the blonde figure of Black Canary standing there, talking with Kori over something. Kara tried to eavesdrop but at that exact moment, Garfield let out a loud sneeze and the two women stopped talking altogether.

"Titans, Black Canary has requested your presence here, for an announcement that I'm sure will make you all happy.", Kori chirped before standing aside to let the blonde woman speak.

"Titans. First of all, you all hacked into league systems, from what I'm told, diverted league intel , disobeyed direct orders from Batman and helped bring down the alien invasion. ", Dinah began with a commanding voice as all the titans looked at the floor, as they knew all the rules they had broken. Damian just kept on glaring at the blonde woman .

Then, the Black Canary took them all by surprise.

"Good work, titans.", she said with a smile.

At this, all the teenagers glanced unsurely at each other, wondering if they were being scolded or praised right now.

"That being said..Batman has a few things he would like to go over with you lot.", Dinah remarked before switching on the intercomms link on the telescreen.

Instantly, the screen cleared out to reveal the brooding figure of Batman, clad in all his masked glory, behind whom stood Barry, unmasked, waving brightly at the team. Next to Barry stood Superman, in full blue costume, wearing a smile on his face.

"Titans. Since you all are determined on disobeying orders set for your own safety, and are fully set on fighting the good fight, the entire league has come to a decision to allow the titans to carry out small scale missions to help build team performance and prep you for the real fights ahead in your lives. ",Batman began speaking and Kara felt slightly elated and she glanced at her teammates, who had similar expressions.

"Yeah, we'll handle the giant alien invasion kinda stuff. ", Barry chimed in.

"Titans. For each mission, the league will assign a supervisor to go along with you. ",Batman droned on.

"For today's mission, Black Canary has volunteered to supervise your mission. It is a covert mission. The titans will be divided up into two teams.", Batman continued.

"Team one consists of Beast boy, Starfire, Blue beetle . You're job is to stop a biological weapon from being accessed from a mercury labs facility in Nigeria.",Batman remarked .

"I've never been to Nigeria..", Garfield drifted off.

Kori chuckled and ushered her team out as the remaining awaited orders.

Kara, Raven and Damian remained.

"Team two. Since Kyle Rayner is off world with Hal Jordan at the moment, Raven will be taking his spot for this mission. ", Batman began as the remaining three looked up eagerly at the telescreen.

"A large Ukranian navy Barge, the _Ivoria ,_ is set sail across the north Atlantic. That barge contains a heavily armed biological weapon and three of our allies, Nightwing, Cybrog and Kid flash, all been captured and under heavy surveillance .", Batman remarked as Kara felt her blood rushing.

" The perpetrators will most likely be on the watch for Justice leaguers so we need you four, along with Black canary,to work on the sly, get into the barge, collect the source of the biological weapon, free the hostages, and get out. Understood?", Batman finished.

Kara and Raven nodded but Damian still stood sullen faced, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Father. I think you miscalculated. There's only three of us here present, excluding Black Canary.", Robin remarked .

"Further mission details will be provided by Black Canary once you're on course. Best of luck.", Batman simply replied before the comms went blank.

"My father accounted for four titans. We're only three.", Damian huffed with an arrogant edge to his voice, not dropping the Batman's apparent slip-up,come to think of it, the Batman never slips up .What happened?

"No he wasn't. Titans, meet your new teammate.", Dinah replied with a cocked eyebrow at Damian.

"Hi!", an eager female voice,new to Kara, piped up from behind them

* * *

 **That's the first story arc Completed, folks! Please leave a review,let me know what you think,it really helps me to write more! Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story so far! Be on the look out for the next chapter!**

 **Till next time!**


	10. Chapter 10 - A New Ally

PS: _I haven't included any 'Hello Megan!' dialogues yet since I want to differentiate my version of M'gann slightly from the young justice version. Also, she doesn't say it in the comics. Just a little heads up. Enjoy reading!_

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Ten - New Ally**

* * *

For over the third time, Black Canary had to repeat the clear instructions as she clipped on her parachute across her hips.

The titan's newest member had a slight problem of being too excited to take in all the instructions clearly. The team had been aboard the stealth craft Batman had sent them for the mission for over twelve hours already since their mission briefing and still, they were trying to get used to the fact that the ever calm and silent Martian Manhunter had a niece, M'gann M'orzz , who happened to be the complete opposite of her uncle.

M'gann was a green skinned teenaged martian girl of average height. Her flaming red hair was a major eye-catcher and she wore a black headband across her head , accentuating her naive persona. Her eyes and her bright brown irises positively beamed each time she spoke . She had a small amount of freckles that littered over her cheeks and across some part of her nose , giving her a slightly childish appearance.

She was wearing a figure hugging jet black suit that looked slightly like a scuba diver's wet suit, combined with a long flowing purplish hooded cape that dangled around her knee area .

M'gann hadn't spent a single moment silent since her abrupt introduction and she had spent the hours aboard the aircraft talking to her new teammates excitedly about her own bioship, her ability to shapeshift her appearance , which she demonstrated by morphing into Raven, Kara and , much to Kara's slight amusement, a female version of Damian. The boy wonder, however, did not take to this so well and ended up rebuffing her, claiming her imitation of him repugnant .

But that didn't seem to dampen the girl's spirit as she pranced about , telling Kara about how her uncle finally allowed her permission to stay on Earth upon him knowing that the titans had a major part to play in stopping the invasion.

Honestly, Kara wanted to be friendly with the incredibly enthusiastic martian girl but after hours of non-stop chattering, Kara didn't want anything to do with her new teammate. She just wanted to get out there and beat up some guys to test out her newfound flight powers.

"Got it?", Dinah yelled over the howling winds as the aircraft slowed down and opened the hatch doors.

"Yeah.I think. " ,M'gann yelled back, an exhilarated look on her face.

"Ready titans?", Dinah yelled once more to check.

"Could we just get on with the mission already? ", Kara yelled, slightly annoyed and at the same time feeling amped to get back in the action and test out her newfound flight powers.

M'gann, on the other hand, a different way of handling the question.

"Ready.", she replied before slapping her hands together, rubbing them furiously as she furrowed her brows and clenched her teeth, a determined look on her face.

" I was born ready! ", the martian teenager added excitedly and made to jump out of the plane, only to have Dinah's hand on her waist, holding her back.

"Whoa. Clam down, Feisty pants. I get that you're excited but just like the rest of your team, You've gotta wait for me to get down in the waters and give you the 'all clear' signal.", the blonde justice leaguer remarked .

"Sorry...I guess I'm just a little bit ..jumpy..", M'gann apologized with a sweet smile as she clasped her hands out in front of her and swayed on the spot like a shy girl.

"Wish me luck.", Dinah muttered to herself before dropping out of the edge of the stealthcraft, her arms and legs stuck up together to her sides so that she formed one streamlined body as she plummeted down into the icy,black waters below, breaking into the water surface as in near silence as the titans watched, not leaving the craft till her signal.

Kara squinted her eyes , zooming her vision in just in time to catch Dinah attach some sort of a cylindrical metallic device to the ship's hull before resurfacing out of the water, flashing a red laser onto the bottom hull of the ship, just above water level three times to signal the titans.

" _Zzat. Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is on continuous loop. Move in._ ", Dinah's voice crackled out of each of their radio receivers.

"That's the all clear. ", Damian muttered coarsely . Kara nodded and flew out of the aircraft, her red cape fluttering behind her as she flew in the new navy blue Kryptonian uniform that Clark had given her was honestly very excited to test it out.

Kara's role was to locate all the snipers and take them all out silently without detection to clear the starboard deck for the remaining others.

Kara blinked and her vision zoomed in and she was now seeing in purple , bright yellow and green. Infrared vision.

Instantly, she spotted every single armed guard aboard the ship. Looking around from her point among the clouds in the sky, Kara located the seven snipers who were perched in various vantage points along the humongous cargo barge.

Without another word, Kara flew in . She had orders not use her superspeed at any given moment during the mission, for it may set of the speed trap alarm the perpetrators may have set to alert them of Superman or the flash's arrival. Kara travelling at super speeds would have the same effect and would compromise the mission.

Kara flew in behind her first sniper, hovering momentarily underneath his platform before he turned his head away. Immediately, Kara flew up , moved in behind him in the darkness and slammed her palm to his mouth while she slipped her other arm around his neck, strangling him by applying just enough pressure to cut off his air supply. Not a moment later, the man in her arms stopped struggling and slumped to the floor.

She did the same with the remaining snipers, taking them all out as silently as she could until she had her arms slung around the last sniper's neck, strangling the air out of him until he lost consciousness.

"Snipers are down. ", Kara muttered into her comms receiver.

" _Good. Titans, move into position. But do not engage yet.",_ Dinah's voice crackled out of Kara's comms unit .

/

Damian sprinted out of the aircraft, grabbing onto what appeared to be some sort of metallic rod that was longer that his body length. The remaining two titans on board the craft watched as the boy wonder plummeted down a few feet before tapping some button on his staff and the next second, some sort of glider apparutus expanded out of what used to be his metallic staff and he glided down onto the main deck.

Landing silently on what appeared to be the helepad of the barge, Damian silently crept up behind a passing by armed guard, jumped on him and slipped his palm on his mouth, choking him silently. Seconds later, the guard was down on the ground and Damian had his rod out in his free arm, with his hood drawn over his head as he bolted through the main deck of the ship.

The deck of the ship was mainly composed of whitish metal flooring , hence the dark colored 'stealth uniforms' that black canary had suggested would have been of no use .

Running around the bend, Damian came face to face with one guard, who had his jaw open in shock at the sudden appearance of Robin on the barge. But before he could react, Damian hurled his Bo staff straight at the man , striking him bluntly on the face, knocking him out in a instant. Another guard, who was positioned just at the bend, whipped around at the sound of disturbance and before he could scream a warning, Robin had made contact with the man's chin with his knee, knocking him out backwards.

Damian picked up his staff from next to the man's motionless body and sprinted forward in the cover of darkness, his back bent forward as he moved quietly.

Damian, being the athletic fifteen year old that he was, began to use his momentum, jumping onto walls to propel himself upward . He stuck his rod in between the walls of a narrow corridor before swinging forward like one of those trapeze acts at a circus, propelling himself up and onto the second level.

Landing on the new floor, he found himself in the midst of a party of guards, seven of them,with four of them stood to Damian's left while three stood to his right.

"Якого біса?", one of the guards muttered in Ukranian slang before Damian hurled his rod towards his right and simultaneously sprang himself to his left.

Damian's Bo staff bounced around , striking men one by one, ricocheting off the metallic walls while the boy wonder himself was engaged with the four other men, dancing around, landing blows on their faces , ducking out form their punches before sliding underneath the leg of one of the men and kicking him out from underneath his feet. Damian's rod bounced back to his hand and he whacked the man clawing at his feet bluntly with the rod, knocking him out. The last man, who had his wrist broken by one of the boys wonder's spinning kicks, was crawling and hoisting himself up towards the alarm switch.

His palm was mere inches away from the switch before a hand dagger, razor edged, spun rapidly through the air, impaling the man's palm with deadly precision, sticking it to the metal wall behind him. Damian then rushed forth whacked the man unconscious with his staff as he began to yell in pain.

Damian then sprinted down the upper decks, before using his momentum to send himself forward over the safety bars of the upper deck down to the lower deck.

Upon landing, he found himself straight in the midst of a battalion of guards. Before they knew what was happening, Robin dropped two smoke pellets and instantly, his surrounding area was clouded in greenish smoke .

"Відкритий вогонь!Відкритий вогонь!", the men shouted in panic and gunfire rained down within the plume of smoke. Nothing happened.

As the men watched, two rope shurikens shot out from the smoke, entangling themselves around the ankles of two of the men, tripping them over. Damian sprang out of the smoke soon after, whacking them unconscious with his Bo staff before disappearing back into the smoke as the remaining men fumbled around , unable to see as the smoke expanded.

As one of the men watched, a shadow shot out from the green smoke, taking his partner out with a kick to the face before disappearing .

"Якого біса ти!?", the man yelped in fear.

"Незначне ідіот.", a boyish voice spoke behind him and before the frightened man could turn around, he was knocked out brutishly.

As the smoke cleared, Damian Wayne stood with a dozen unconscious bodies around him, unmoving.

Just then , he felt the barrel of a rifle at his head and the sound of someone arming it.

"Знімають маску! T-Take of yur Massk!", the last guard yelled in a thick Ukranian accent, his voice clearly implying his shock and fear at seeing a boy take out twelve of his comrades with ease.

"Even if I did, you wouldn't know who I am.", Damian hissed from underneath his hood, not turning around.

Just then, a black forcefield struck the man on the back of his head and a moment later, the men crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

As Damian glanced up, he saw Raven and M'gann fly down to his side.

"Thanks.", he replied with a smile to Raven. He rarely smiled. And his sudden pleasant demeanor didn't go unnoticed by M'gann.

"Yeah... You really looked like you needed our help.", Raven replied with a smile as Damian snorted.

"Area secure. ", Damian remarked into his comms unit, raising his hand to his ear.

" _Copy. Black canary moving in to dispatch A. Remain in the dark and proceed to target locations. Do not engage unless absolutely necessary._ ", Dinah's voice crackled out of all their comms units.

/

"And that goes double for you, Supergirl. Do not go charging in. That would compromise the mission. _",_ Dinah spoke again with a warning edge to her voice as she sprinted forward, wrapped her legs around a passing by guard, rendering him unconscious under her strangle hold as the man's face turned blue due to lack of oxygen as his face was trapped in between Dinah's thighs.

" _Yeah. Yeah. Got the gist already. Moving in to dispatch Alpha._ ", Kara's voice crackled out of the comms signal and from the tone, it was evident that the hot-headed sixteen year old was not pleased at being singled out as the brash one.

/

The main unit of the barge had eleven armed guards, positioned in strategic locations while one sole hostage sat there, tied up to a metallic chair, most of his power drained from his capacitor with just enough being supplied to keep him alive for questioning. He had definitely seen better days and his lips were cracked due to lack of water and dehydration. Sweat tricked down his skin and his robotic eye had a flickering red in it, barely active.

Cyborg.

/

Dinah slid under her man's feet before kicking him out from under, grabbing his head and bashing it against the wall, knocking him out instantly. Then, she jumped up,hauled herself over the railing and shot a glue bomb , sticking it straight at one of the cargo holds.

"Black Canary to team. Distraction package has been set. I'm in position.", Dinah whispered into her comms unit before sprinting out of the corridor.

/

In the main control hold of the large cargo barge, two figures stood in silence, a man in his late forties and a female who looked far younger. Her silvery white hair cascaded out from underneath her orange and black mask that was tailored to look like that of her father's.

"I want the bioweapon ready to be moved . We should expect trouble soon. " Rose ordered and the captain nodded as he reached to his transmitter to relay the orders to his subordinates.

/

Damian slunk through the shadows, whizzing past patrolling armed guards attacks were childsplay to him. He had done it a thousand times under the training of his grandfather and a couple more with his father. This was no big issue for the boy wonder. Except, his teammates were the liability right now. Especially Zor-El and her hot headed behavior and the new girl, who simply couldn't stay silent for a second.

All of a sudden, he screeched to halt. He was trapped. He could see the silhouette of two approaching guards around the corner along with the one had had just weaved past. He looked up to see the ceiling of the floor directly above him was made of wired metal alloyed nets. He took out his grappling gun, shot it upwards and managed to evade detection just in time as the guards came around the corner. He was hanging upside down , using his birdarangs as makeshift claws to cling onto the wire mesh as he watched the guards walk by.

Once they were out of earshot, Damian dropped down from the ceiling.

"Robin to Black Canary. I've dismantled the comms jammer. They shouldn't be able to track our radiowaves any longer. Also, sublevel four is reasonably patrolled with armed guards. ", Damian whispered into his comms receiver that was plugged into his ear.

" _Zzzat. Good. Do not engage the guards yet. We need to locate the three hostages and the biological weapon first before we give away our presence._ ", Dinah's voice crackled out of his receiver.

"You don't need to worry about me. I could have done this on my own.", Damian shrugged her off and leapt up, clambering over a cargo stock and jumping over the heads of two guards walking by, unnoticed.

He reached the base of what was a tall, large, circular structure that rose upwards into the black skies above. Glancing around, Damian made sure that he was still undetected before shooting his grapple gun above him and hoisting himself skywards. Upon reaching the terrace of the structure, he clambered onto it, ducked and crept towards the lone sniper on the structure, who had his back turned to him.

As silent as he could, robin sprang up onto the guy, slammed his palm onto his mouth , wrapped his free arm around the guy's neck, choking him and didn't let go of his strangle hold even as the guy writhed around, struggling to breathe.

Slowly, Damian felt the guy's attempts to shove the boy wonder off of him fade in strength and not a moment later, Damian let go and the guy slumped down, unconscious.

Damian inched along the wall and switched on his X-ray vision. Instantly, he caught sight of an adult male body right underneath the metal obstruction between them. He'd recognize that precoscious body language anywhere. Grayson.

"I'm in position. Located target A. He's guarded by four armed thugs. Adult, six-five, six-two, five-nine and five-ten in height each. All of them similarly equipped , containing tazers, loaded artillery. Engaging enemies.", Damian asked hotly into his comms receiver.

/

" Everyone in position?", Dinah whispered into her comms unit. Everyone complied except for one.

" _Zzat. Wait! Everyone! I'm not ready yet! I had to take a detour.",_ M'gann's voice crackled out and she sounded like she was slightly panic stricken.

" _Well. Get in position. Fast. We haven't got all night._ ", Kara's voice hissed out of the comms signal.

"Team. Focus on the mission .", Dinah whispered into her comms .

/

"Okay. Okay. Supergirl,There's a bit of a problem with the Kid Flash Containment unit. I might need your-", M'gann whispered into her comms systems and she silently flew round the corner before stopping mid sentence.

She caught sight of Kara hovering inches above the ground, hidden behind a set of gas exhausts, peering forwards from her hiding place and unawares to the girl of steel, an armed henchmen was closing in on her with his dagger drawn out.

Instantly ,forgetting the fact that Kara was invulnerable to most physical attacks, M'gann shot into action, thrusting her hand out in front of her , catching a hold of the man under her force grip as the man yelled in shock at being suddenly lifted off his feet by an invisible force.

" _SUPERGIRL, BEHIND YOU_!", the green skinned martian yelled out aloud telepathically as she flung the man in her grip overboard. Instantly, Kara yelled in pain as M'gann's sudden telepathic yelling rang inside her head, causing her head to hurt. But the damage was done. The man had yelled when he was thrown overboard and Kara's sudden yelling had alerted the guards of their presence.

The mission was compromised.

Not a second later, the alarms through the barge began to ring and the remaining guards sprinted out, guns ready, to find many of their comrades motionless on the ground. Panic stricken, many of them began to spread out.

/

"They're here...Get the Bioweapon and get it to the containment sector. Lock yourself in till extraction.", Rose ordered with a hiss as she ushered Cisco out.

" _Vatt about the intruders?_ ", the captain yelped.

"Leave that to me. ", Rose replied before exiting the cabin .

/

Dinah punched a guard in the groin, flipping him over and kicking him off the edge of the barge and into the waters below before she moved in to where Batman estimated the biological weapon to be kept.

Upon reaching the holding area, she found the sector vacant and the glass casing that held the weapon ransacked.

Disheartened, Dinah turned around, leaving her back unguarded as she spoke to her comms to alert the titans.

"Black canary to team. The perpetrators have the bioweapon. Casing is vacant. Retreat. I repeat. Re-", she dropped off mid sentence before a crimson blur passed straight by her. The next second when the blur cleared, Dinah lay on the ground, unconscious.

Kid Flash had knocked her out.

/

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, GRAYSON!?", Damian yelled as he whipped his Bo staff around to block one of Dick Grayson's charging attacks. The former robin was not responding to any of Damian's insults, merely charging on mindlessly with a blank expression on his face. Damian couldn't use his full range of attacks either, for Batman had restricted him from using his sword, giving him the useless staff instead so that he learnt non lethal damage infliction.

Using what he had, Damian struck out, flipping off the walls to gain height over Dick but the former robin caught Damian mid jump by the ankle and swung him around, sending him crashing into the walls in front him.

"Lumbering idiot.", Damian grunted as he clutched his arm in pain.

The son of batman then burst forward in a range of motion, blocking all of Dick's kicks and punches before drawing out his dagger and slicing the twenty three year old across the forearm. Damian bolted forward head on and propped his Bo staff on the ground firmly using it like a pole vault to propel himself forward as he shot his legs out, landing a solid kick across Dick's left jaw, sending the Nightwing crashing into door behind him, knocking it off it's hinges due to the force.

Panting slightly, Damian Wayne spun his staff and slammed it on Dick's head, shoving him to the floor .

"That'll teach you to mess with -", Damian was saying before he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head mid sentence and the next thing he knew, he blacked out, dropping to his knees , unconscious.

* * *

Kara was flying close by the barge, blanketed out of view in the grey clouds . Their mission had been a disaster. And that was putting it nicely.

By the looks of it, all her teammates had been captured and Kara couldn't even use her radio comms to contact Batman or any of the others. If the people who had captured Kara's teammates were to hack in on the network, she would involuntarily be tipping them off to her presence if she used her comms unit.

And who the hell was that girl who shouted inside her head?It certainly wasn't hers.

Kara felt bad and frustrated at not being able to do anything. The entire mission was off course and all her teammates were now captured. It was all her fault.

Just then, she felt a body zooming in towards her and before she knew what was happening, she was tackled in a tight hug and flaming red hair sprawled onto Kara's face due to the winds at the altitude.

"Oh! I thought they had taken everybody! Thank god! At least you're here too!", M'gann sighed in relief as she let go of Kara , who was still slightly taken aback at the sudden appearance of the martian girl.

As Kara nodded and brushed her bangs out of her eyes, she recognized the female voice that had yelled inside her head.

"YOU!", Kara yelled furiously and grabbed M'gann by the collar of her purple cape, taking the green skinned martian girl by surprise.

"Me?", M'gann muttered back apprehensively.

"It was _your_ voice inside me head. You got inside me! What the hell was that!?", Kara yelled, her anger obtruding her .

As Kara watched, M'gann didn't speak, she was simply gazing at Kara with a tentative expression as the girl of steel still held onto M'gann's collar.

Then, it happened again.

" _I don't understand why you're mad. Everyone on mars used to communicate telepathically. This is how I communicate with my uncle_.", M'gann's voice echoed inside Kara's head, forcing her to let go of M'gann's collar and clutch at her own blonde hair in uneasiness.

"ARGGH! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!", Kara yelled out in anger as they hovered aerially .

The feeling of having aliens probing inside her head was still fresh in her mind from the Brainiac invasion. She was in no mood to do it again.

"I..I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong.", M'gann spoke this time as the two girls hovered stationary amidst the clouds.

"M'gann. Stop. Don't...talk ...inside my head. It's creepy as hell and you're invading my private space. ", Kara hissed.

"Oh..I'm... Sorry. ", M'gaan replied quietly, looking crestfallen.

"Yeah. Being sorry simply doesn't make it right. It's your fault that our teammates are caught. Now we've gotta try and get em back somehow. You can either help me, or just get back home to the tower.

"I..was just trying to be part of the team..", M'gann mumbled, looking away but Kara , using her super hearing heard her silent reply.

"Yeah. You haven't been doing a good job at it so far.", she hissed and led the way forward. M'gann paused, wondering if she should even go any further . After a prolonged pause, she followed suit, silently following the girl of steel .

Kara didn't speak further and simply flew forward, trying to come up with a plan , with her green skinned teammate flying close by, rubbing her forearm and not making eye contact, looking slightly abashed.

* * *

Damian felt a sharp pain on the back of his head as he began to regain consciousness. He could hear voices nearby. But his mind was too fuzzy to make anything of it. He groaned as he came to and he tried to rub his head, only to find that he couldn't even budge his arms.

"What the hell...", he murmured as he shook himself awake.

As his vision cleared out, he found himself sitting cross legged on the floor,his arms cuffed together behind him, around the foot of a heavy metal table from the looks of it. He clenched his teeth and struggled as he tried to pull at his restraint.

"That's not going to work.", a cold female voice spoke out.

Damian stopped struggling on finding out that he wasn't alone. Looking up into the light ahead of him in the circular room, he found a female figure's silhouette staring down at him from a few feet away, outlined by bright white couldn't make out the face, for she seemed to be wearing a mask, with her hair flowing out from underneath it.

"Who the hell are you?",Damian called out unceremoniously.

"I should be the one asking you that.", the female voice responded as she came into the clear.

Damian's eyes widened in recognition as he recognized the woman's raspy voice. It was the same person , wearing the mask similar to the one Slade wore. In one hand, she held her own sword, the one Damian had taken during their previous fight. And in the other, she held his emerald robin mask. If Damian were his father, he'd be shocked at having his identity exposed. On the contrary , not many people knew Damian's own face nor did they know that Bruce Wayne had a son, so he should be safe.

"You've taken quite a pain to retain my blade for so long. Now... I know that you're the Bat's brat wonder. But you intrigue me, Robin. I've seen the way you fought Nightwing. Those moves were level four hand to hand combat training of the League of Shadows.", the woman remarked with a hiss to her voice.

Suddenly, she spun her blade vertically three-sixty degrees before catching it by the hilt and thrusting it forward, it's razor tip dangerously close to Damian's throat.

"So I will ask again, Robin. What do you want with me and Who are you...Really?", the woman remarked with an edge to her tone.

Damian didn't speak. He didn't even move a muscle as he stared straight into the one visible grey iris.

Then, the fifteen year old spat straight at her mask, forcing her to growl to express her displeasure.

"Wrong answer.", the woman hissed and raised her blade to strike Damian across the face when the door behind her slid open.

A man's figure walked in out of the light outside, into the fairly darker interrogation room.

"There's still no sign of anybody else. There was no Justice league. It was just these kids. ", Dick replied in a monotone voice which was uncharacteristic of his usual self. It was clear now that the hostages were in some sort of mind control and they were a trap laid to lure in the Justice league.

"I'm not a child!", Damian spat at the face he recognized a the two of them simply ignored him.

"Keep a look out. We can't be too sure. If Robin's here, Batman shouldn't be too far behind. ", the woman in the mask replied before the two of them completely ignored Damian and walked out . But before she closed the door, one of her henchmen approached her and she whispered something in his ear.

Damian watched as the man nodded and then moved into the room, sliding the door shut behind him.

"I despise you.", Damian simply remarked as the man walked forward, with some sort of syringe in his hand.

Damian could do nothing as the man forced his neck down and inserted the syringe to the back of his neck.

"What did you do to me!?", Damian yelled as he writhed on the floor, trying to break free of his containment. But soon enough, his vision began to slur and he felt like he was losing his ability to control his muscles. Then, all of a sudden, his mind went blank and he stopped struggling.

* * *

"Well?", Kara asked hotly as M'gann returned from her scouting of the ship.

Apparently, One of M'gann's abilities was the ability to camouflage, meaning, she could turn herself completely invisible .

Upon learning about this ability of hers, Kara had sent the green martian girl into the ship to silently stake out and find each of their teammates. Kara's plan was then to risk using her superspeed to zoom in and get them all out before anyone knew what hit them.

"Well.", M'gann muttered as she decamouflaged herself.

"They're all there..but...", M'gann muttered, making Kara irritable. She just wanted to get this over with and go back.

"But what? Spit it out!", the hot headed blonde remarked hotly.

"Well, they're behaving strangely. They're...not hostages. From what I could tell, they all were working _with_ the perpetrators. None of them seemed to be in distress. I even saw Damian giving orders on staying alert for the justice league to some of the henchmen in there. ", M'gann muttered apprehensively.

"So you're telling me they've all decided to go rogue now for some reason? ", Kara spat incredulously, a little confused.

"Not all of them..I saw Raven. She was sitting in her containment unit in some meditation pose with some forcefield around her, keeping the men unable to get to her. She doesn't seem to be displaying any odd behavior yet.", M'gann replied .

Kara's brows furrowed for a moment as she tried to wrap her head around what was happening. Then, it hit her like a wrecking ball and she came to an epiphany.

"Son of a...I think they've got some sort of mind control device. They're all being controlled! They gotta be! Our rescue mission just got a whole lot harder. ", Kara cursed under her breath.

"I could try to contact Uncle J'onn and get the league here to help us!", M'gann piped up enthusiastically.

"No. Even with Superman or the flash's speed it would set off the speed alarm on that ship and then we don't know what those guys would do to the others. That's the one reason I've not been able to use my speed to get em outta there. I'd set off the alarm myself. ", Kara remarked as the two girls flew silently through the clouds, tracking the ship without it's notice.

"Okay. Well. I'm not very good at it yet but...Martians can extrapolate chemical fibers . Maybe I could do that.", M'gann suggested with a shrug.

"Chemical fib- okay I'm lost here..", Kara scoffed as they flew forward.

"It means that if we could..possibly get one of our friends , I could possibly enter their mind to see how they're being mind controlled in the first place and then we could try and get them back to normal again. ", M'gann explained.

"Well... at least we got something to go on..", Kara replied with a sigh as the two of them flew forward, lowering their height.

/

Kara and M'gann hid from watchful eyes by flying just under the barge's exterior mast, below deck level. Kara , using her X-Ray vision, had been tracking Damian as he walked by, patrolling the area.

The two girls chose to get him first since Black Canary was posted in some heavily guarded part of the ship. Getting her would be suicide.

Kara nodded to M'gann and thegreen martian focused her telepathic energy on Damian and within a mere second, Kara watched as the teenager crumpled to the ground in an unmoving heap. Kara flew up and grabbed up his body before she turned and nodded to M'gann and both girls silently flew through the barge towards the engine room.

Upon entering the room, they found two armed guards, who were staring at the three newcomers with dumbfounded expressions and before they could alert the others, the girl of steel flew forward and grabbed their heads, smashing them together, dropping them unconscious to the floor.

Having done so, Kara propped Damian's motionless body against a nearby wall and turned to M'gann.

"Do your thing. ", Kara whispered as she turned away . M'gann drew back her hood and reached up , placing her fingertips on either side of Damian's forehead and instantly, the green martian's eyes lit up a bright incandescent green as she entered his mind.

Kara proceeded to move towards the exit hatch to use her X-ray vision , keeping a lookout. Her one big fear was the speedster on board . Kara may be as fast as Clark was, but juxtaposed to a speedster, her speed was nothing in comparison.

M'gann let out a tired sigh as her eyes stopped glowing.

"Did you find the problem?", Kara asked impatiently.

"Yeah. I had to enter his mind and go through his memories.. Let's just say there are some things I'd rather not have seen"

"But...I think I know what the problem is. He was injected with some sort of chemical that made his neuro system lose control over his body. ",M'gann remarked.

"Well...At least now I know Damian was only being more of a dick than usual because he was forced to..." Kara grumbled . "So..d'you think you can get him back to normal?"

"If I were my uncle, this'd be easy...but..I can try..", M'gann said a little unsurely.

Kara groaned and rubbed the back of her head.

"Well..at least it's better than nothing. I'll keep a look out.", the blonde teenager replied before walking to the hangar doors , switching to X-ray vision as M'gann set to work, her eyes glowing emerald as she let her palm hover just inches above Damian's chest, concentrating on the molecules of the chemical compound to try and force it out of his bloodstream.

M'gann's brows furrowed and a bead of sweat trickled down her forehead as she focused in on the molecules of the toxin . If she lost her concentration on even one part of it, the whole procedure would have to be rebooted. And it was exhausting. J'onn made this look easy. She hoped she'd be upto his level one day but it didn't look like it'd be anytime soon. Heck, she had even caused the mission's failure and she had done so badly on her first day . She dreaded to think how much worse she could do in the future. Maybe after all this was over, she should just return to the watchtower and work on improving her skills.

 _Focus M'gann,_ she chided to herself and continued on.

As Kara kept a lookout, she suddenly heard Damian coughing violently behind her and she whipped around to see M'gann drawing out a stream of blackish liquid from the fifteen year old's mouth. Kara hurried over, tore open a part of the metal flooring and used her heat vision to meld the metal into the jagged test tube.

M'gann carefully inserted the liquid, into the metallic test tube and Kara welded the top of the tube shut before putting it inside her suit.

"That was exhausting..", M'gann wheezed as she brushed her bangs off her face in sweat.

Damian, whose coughing was now reducing, slowly picked himself off the ground, looking slightly weak and pale.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glanced over at the two girls with him in the sweltering engine room.

"I suppose I should thank you.", Damian simply replied .

"Though I am aware that it _was_ both of who are responsible for getting the rest of us caught in the first place.", he continued with a hiss to his voice.

"Hey! She yelled ...telepathically inside my head! She started it!", Kara defended herself, throwing her arms up.

"That wouldn't have happened if you had talked to me on our way here, letting me know about your invulnerability to knives!", M'gann chimed in and for the first time, she seemed angry.

Kara pointed to the 'S' shield on her chest.

"Ha! I thought _this_ made it clear what my powers were!", the girl of steel retorted.

"Both of you ! Stop acting like whining babies.", Damian cut in, rubbing his temple as if he was fed up with his company.

"You both worked out your differences and made it this far . Stay like that for a bit longer and we should be good.".

"Wow. I never thought I'd agree with shortstack over anything.", Kara mumbled, her eyebrows raised .

"Next time I want a half-breed alien calling me names, I'll let you know, Zor-El.", Damian retorted .

"Anyway. So what did that toxin do to you? How was it mind controlling you?", M'gann inquired,diverting the subject.

"I don't know...It was some really powerful chemical compound. I could _see_ what I was doing, but I had no control over my body and I just did what I was told. We need to get everybody else out fast.", Damian replied as he took out another green robin mask and placed it on his face.

"How many of those you got in there?", Kara asked incredulously.

"I'm always prepared.", Damian replied.

/

"I'm actually surprised that she hasn't noticed I'm no longer patrolling around.", Damian whispered as the three of them sat crouched in a corridor, staking out the deck .

"Who's _she_?", Kara inquired, a little confused.

"No one of concern to you, Zor-El" he retorted . " Here's what we need to do."

He turned to M'gann.

"I've noticed you can turn invisible. Fly around and find out where the others are and report back here. You have two minutes. Then we can come up with a viable solution to his debacle. "

"Already done it.", Kara replied proudly as the two girls filled the boy wonder in on the whereabouts of the other titans.

"Okay.", Damian replied, his brows furrowed as he came with a plan.

"I need my utility belt and I think I know where it's being held. ", he simply stated before glancing over to M'gann.

"You can camouflage yourself. So I need you to get into Raven's containment unit and break her out. We're gonna need her because she's the only one of us who can catch Kid flash. ", Damian replied as M'gann cocked an eyebrow.

"Hey! I'm fast enough!", Kara defended herself but Damian ignored her.

"You're the most invulnerable to their attacks out of the three of us. You need to head out and draw out all their attacks so that the two of us can carry out our tasks . Do I make myself clear?", Damian ordered Kara, who stood up , crossing her arms across her chest with an incredulous expression.

"What makes you think you can give me orders?", Kara demanded.

"The situation. ", Damian simply replied before slipping away.

/

A blankfaced Dick Grayson, unable to control his own body, patrolled through the main deck as the salty sea winds blew the hair off his face. A battalion of armed troopers marched by.

The inky black sky and the crashing waves below lay ahead of the ship as it sailed northward. The sea spray was well endowed, casting a cool breeze over the deck.

Then, out of nowhere,the speed trap on the barge was broken and the alarm rang aloud, echoing through the area. As everyone looked around for the source, a speeding blur of blue and red sped past them and seconds later, the figure of a blonde girl wearing a modified version of the superman costume was hovering stationary at the ship's bow, with her arm's crossed across her chest, her cape fluttering behind her, mimicking the motions of her hair.

Immediately, the armed henchmen aimed and opened fire, raining down bullets on the blonde teenager, who was less than perturbed, simply grinning down at them as the bullets bounced off her chest.

Dick stepped up to the flank and shot an electrocuting tazer at her.

The electricity crackled along Kara's torso for a few seconds before she plucked it off with a smirk.

"You guys really don't grasp the concept of the shield on my chest do you?", the blonde teenager huffed before slamming her fist into her palm, cracking her knuckles.

"Now. My turn.".

In a flash, the blonde kryptonian teenager sped forwards, landing punches on the many armed men clamored around her; landing a blow on one man before speeding , a blur of blue and red, to her next target, landing solid punches on repeated this motion again and again as the men try to get a hand on her unsuccessfully.

Kara saw fourteen of the armed men bolting in her direction, raining down gunfire. She stepped forth and extended her arms straight out in front of her and clapped , sending the men tumbling back due to the force .

/

Damian crept up around a corridor bend and peeped over. Seeing five armed guards posted outside the area he knew where his equipment was being kept, he withdrew back. He had to improvise.

As the men stood stoic outside the metallic door that guarded the equipment and the biological weapon, a loud clanging noise echoed from around the corridor corner. When nothing else happened, two of the men nodded and slowly crept forth, guns armed and ready .

As soon as they vanished from view, rounding the curve, the noises of the men exclaiming in Ukranian dialect rung out through the metallic walled corridor and the men released gunfire before one of the men screamed in terror.

Then. No sound came.

"Ти в порядку!? WHOEVER YEU ARE, STAY RIGHT THER! OR VE VILL SHOOT!", one of the remaining men guarding the hall yelled out in a heavily accented attempt at speaking English.

No answer came.

Then, a smoke grenade rolled out from around the corner and engulfed the corridor in green opaque smoke. Then men, terrified , began randomly shooting into the mist surrounding them.

Then, as the two men watched, two arms shot out of the green smoke from behind them, wrapping themselves around the neck of their comrade before vanishing back into the mist with him. The sound of his head being smashed into the cold floor echoed through the air as they called out for him.

Then, out of the smoke, two bullets were shot, grazing the skin of the men around their calf-muscle, forcing them onto the floor in pain.

As they groaned and clutched at their leg , they saw the figure of Robin emerge out of the green smoke before swinging his foot around and landing solid kicks across their jaws, rendering them unconscious instantly.

"Insufferable. I expected more of a fight.", Damian muttered coarsely before stalking off over them to the room.

/

"Dammit. ", Rose muttered as she watched Kara beat up the officers without even breaking a sweat.

They had begun shooting low grade missiles at her to slow her down but that only resulted in the blonde girl with the red cape flying a few feet above deck level and shooting out a constant stream of crimson light at the artillery, blowing them up in flames.

" _(Maam. One of the rogues have entered the containment unit. He is in the same lockdown facility as the biological weapon.)",_ one of the guards informed Rose ,speaking to her in Ukranian.

Rose cursed and backpedaled towards the containment room, away from the obvious distraction the supergirl was putting up. How could she have been so foolish to not see it before? The Kryptonian's sudden attack on her men had no real purpose.

"Get the speedster to handle the situation at deck level. ", Rose ordered to one of the men as she bolted up the stairs.

Simultaneously, on the deck, as Kara tried to land another blow, something red and incredibly fast shot past her , knocking her down . As Kara panted and looked around for the attacker, she spotted the red blur again and before she could step aside even at her fastest speed, the blur came in close and landed a punch on her cheek, sending her tumbling back to the floor as she recuperated.

/

Damian was buckling his utility belt onto his waist as the groaning Cisco Ramon lay on the floor, legs strapped by two ropes from Damian's equipment.

As he turned around, he saw what appeared to be some silvery metallic cube hovering in a safety catch along the security panel of the room. It was merely the size of Damian's fist, if one were to juxtapose them. Then his eyes widened as he realized what the thing would be.

The Biological weapon. Whatever it was.

As he slowly edged forward, a metallic claw shot out of the glass paneling behind him and dug straight into his shoulderblade, forcing him to yell out in agonizing pain. The next thing he knew, the cord attached to the metal claw reeled in and he was being pulled backwards off his feet.

Damian flew straight through the glass and out of the room.

He caught a glimpse of an orangish armored uniform that he recognized before he was swung over the safety railing of the corridor, dangling painfully by the metal claw and rope inserted into his struggled as he caught a hold of the coil in his shoulder and pulled himself up slightly to try and reduce the pain of the metal tearing into his flesh.

Through his pain, Damian looked up to see the figure of the female assassin wearing the mask similar to Slade's.

Too weak to haul himself up to fight her from the whole experience of the day, Damian slipped out an electrocuting disk from his belt and slammed it onto the exposed part of the woman's hand, electrocuting her instantly and in that moment, he grabbed a hold of her and yanked her over the railing, sending both of them crashing down to the main deck in a painful heap.

Both of them rolled around, groaning in pain as the armed men around them were engaged in battle with the supergirl.

/

Kara was having a tough time keeping up with what she could only describe as a blur. She had sped forth at her fastest speed, trying to catch the speedster but while they were racing for one second, the next thing she knew, the blur was running circles around her, landing punches from various angles when she was least expecting it.

Blow after blow landed on the blonde teenager who was swinging her fists around madly in rage, unable to touch the speedster. She roared and let crimson beams burst from her eyes as she followed the speedster's path.

She managed to catch him in the back , sending him flying forward and crashing into nearby guards. She caught a sight of the masked fellow in the yellowish suit with crimson eyes in his mask as she stared at her before he shot towards her, landing a solid punch on her stomach before she could react, sending her crashing straight through a wall behind her due to the concussive force of his speed punch.

Then, the speedster closed in and begun speeding in a tight circular pattern around Kara and as he did so, the girl of steel stood there, confused as to what the speedster was doing. Then,Kara began to feel the air being sucked out from her vicinity. The speedster was creating a sort of vacuum around her, forcing her to choke due to lack of oxygen.

Gradually, the girl of steel was forced to her knees as she gasped for air in the vacuum around her but the crimson blur speeding around her just kept increasing it's speed, creating a red tunnel around Kara as the armed guards watched the episode take place in front of them.

All of a sudden, a blackish stream of energy shot out from a landing above deck level and hit the crimson blur head on, throwing it off balance. Kara struggled to her feet as she gasped in air . She saw the body of Kid flash lying motionless on the metal flooring a few feet away from her, his brownish hair sprawled over his face, hit by one of Raven's energy blasts.

From the looks of it, Raven appeared exhausted as she gripped the railing to support herself. Echoing streams of high pitched vocals erupted from somewhere behind the horde of armed guards and Kara caught sight of Black canary blasting the guards with her canary cries.

So M'gann had done her job. She had gotten Raven and Black Canary out . But where was the green skinned martian?

Seconds later, a familiar voice echoed out through the air from the skies and as everyone turned around, the saw the figure of Wonder woman flying in towards them, her jet black hair billowing in the wind and a determined look on her face.

"Stand down. I do not wish to call upon unnecessary bloodshed. The Justice league will be arriving shortly for your apprehension.", the amazon woman bellowed commandingly over the shipment as she hovered mid air, drawing out her sword.

"Stand down, titans. We have the situation under control." she added to the teenagers .

Kara cursed under her breath. The league couldn't even trust the titans to handle this mission on their own? Black Canary had probably called them in.

A slightly weakened Ravager stood up from her spot and gazed up at the figure of the amazonian who stared right back at them.

There was no way they could fight off a Kryptonian girl and an amazon at the same time.

"Vibe get us out of here.", Rose murmured into her comms unit and seconds later,a bluish portal opened next to Ravager whereupon the figure of the boy Damian had beaten previously reemerged with his hand wrapped around the silvery cubical containment unit .

He then thrust his hand out in front of him whereupon a beam of circular blue energy erupted out of his hand and a second portal opened up in front of them and moments later, before anyone knew what was happening, both Vibe and Ravager had disappeared from the area, escaping through the portal.

Simultaneously, Kara noticed the all the armed men around them were staggering slightly on the spot, as if disoriented . Most of them were glancing around with a confused expression on their face while some clutched their head as if recovering from a massive headache.

"It's like...fog lifting..", Kara head some of the men mutter . Most of the men seemed surprised to see the titans nearby and Wonder woman hovering mid air.

So the men were all under the mind controlling toxin just like all the hostages were.

Kara wasted no time storming towards the blonde figure of Black Canary who was helping Damian stand up.

"What the hell!?", Kara scoffed scornfully, waving her arms around in anger to emphasize her point to the justice leaguer, who was taken aback.

"What?", Dinah retorted, not taking lightly to the girl's hot headed shouting.

"Why'd you call the Justice league in for? We had this under control!", Kara spat furiously.

"I didn't call anyone in. I was just as much under the mind control toxin as the others.", Dinah replied with her eyebrows cocked .

"What?", Kara scoffed, a little confused as she whipped around to see the figure of Wonder woman flying in towards them.

As they watched, the figure of the amazon princess began to change, morph as her skin began to turn emerald green and her hair turned a flaming red. Her suit also changed from a unitard to a full body figure hugging suit and as she finally landed next to them, M'gann had a slightly apologetic smile on her face.

"I didn't have a way to let you guys in on my plan since the radio frequency's been jammed. And you didn't want me inside your head.",M'gann said as she moved her bangs out of her eyes.

Kara had a shocked look on her face, unable to think of what to say.

"I'm impressed. Good job, Kid .J'onn's taught you well.", Dinah said with a warm smile as she slung Damian's arm over her neck to prop him up and reduce the bleeding on his shoulder.

Kara was still gazing at M'gann with a shocked expression on her face.

* * *

"So. Team Two. Black Canary informed us of the biological weapon getting away. Most of the men on board that ship were Naval officers, put under the influence of the mind control drug. The league will get to the bottom of who the supplier of the drug is.", Batman remarked through the telescreen as both teams of titans gave in their mission reports.

Apparently, Kori's team had no cockup and had carried out the mission undetected, unlike the team Kara was on, who had caused a bit of a scuffle. But in her defense, they had a new teammate they had to get used to and it wasn't easy.

"But you did discover a deadly toxin that is weaponizable against the league. And you took out the entire barge and you recovered the hostages . Good job. You may take your leave.", Batman remarked.

"Not you two.", Bruce added as the titans turned to leave, indicating Kara and M'gann who exchanged glances with each other.

As the other titans vacated the room, with Damian bandaged up, Bruce turned his attention to the two girls in the room.

"Black Canary informed us of the lack of cohesion between the two of you as a unit. You both were the root cause of the hindrance in the mission and almost cost you your own lives. You will both receive a written evaluation detailing your _many_ mistakes ... Until then, good job.", Bruce finished , leaving M'gann and Kara a little confused.

"No unit survives contact with enemy lines on the first attempt. How you adjust to the unforseen is what determines your success. You both managed to move aside your differences and work together as a unit to free your teammates from the mind control toxin. For now, you both did a good job.", Bruce replied as Kara and M'gann exchanged glances .

"Carry on.", Bruce replied before the screen went black.

Both girls were still a little surprised at the way Batman reprimanded them . Or was it even that?

"Uh..guess we should be going.", Kara muttered a little awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck .

"Yeah.", M'gann nodded and walked with Kara towards the door.

"Hey..um..You did good..", Kara muttered a little sheepishly with her hands dug into her sweatshirt pocket as they walked through the corridor to the common room.

M'gann blinked a couple of times , staring at Kara before smiling sweetly at her.

"Thanks. I still have a lot to learn though. And I'm sorry about ...the getting inside your head..thing.", M'gann added with an apologetic smile.

"Yeah. It's okay. You didn't know about my issues with that kinda stuff. So.. Have you ever tried Bolivian food?", Kara asked with a smile .

* * *

"We lost the hostages and the justice league knows about the A-one thirteen toxin now. It would be prudent to use it again . ", Rose remarked with a stoic expression as she gave in the mission report to her superior.

She stood in the presence of her superior, who had his back turned to her , with his hood drawn up and his silhouette outlined against the reddish mist wafting through the air.

The giant underground hall in which she stood was mostly empty and vast, with blow torches lining up the walls , casting an orangish light over the hall . There was no civil appearance about the hall and there was no sign of any form of technology anywhere to be seen. Most of the walls were made of red sandstone and the flooring was slightly uneven to the touch. There was one giant rectangular stone table set in the middle of the hall and there were no chairs anywhere for anyone to sit on. It rather looked like a sacrificial table, if anything.

Rose stood at the base of a rising platform,knelt on her knee at the base of three sets of stairs carved out of the platform on which the superior stood.

"No matter. The biological weapon has been acquired and is what is desired by our benefactor. An overall successful mission. ", the superior , with his figure silhouetted among a reddish light emanating from a source beneath him replied.

Rose swallowed.

"Something troubles you, Ravager?", the cold drawling voice echoed through the hall.

"Yes. ", Rose muttered through clenched teeth.

"I...came in contact with the teen titans. The Robin, he..bore some sort of grudge with me, but I don't recognize him. He recognizes my mask..who is he?",Rose asked, lifting her eyes up slightly.

A smile crept on the Superior's face, unseen by Rose.

"Yes. A worthy opponent for you skills, Ravager. But that is not all. He, along with the rest of his little group are accomplices in your father's demise, so it is only natural for him to recognize the mask you wear.", the superior breathed and he heard a sharp intake of air from Ravager behind him.

Her father, Slade Wilson had disappeared two years prior and she hadn't had contact with him since. Many believed him to be dead and after all this time, she had been beginning to believe it too. Now that she had confirmation from her master that her father was indeed dead an unfamiliar feeling flooded through her. She rolled her palms into fists and stood up, turning to leave.

"Thank you,Master.".

* * *

 **So that's the beginning of the new story arc folks! And in this arc, I will be focusing on Kara mostly, but I will have more chapters more centric on the other titans as well. And I'm going to try and make this fic an amalgam of both the teen titans and young justice tv show genres.**

 **Please leave a review and fav/follow if you enjoyed this chapter! It really helps me to write more.**

 **Until next time!**


	11. Chapter 11 - The Mind Within

Hey guys!For this story arc, I'll be trying to make it like a tv series and hence, I may or may not have my chapters longer than they used to be . And I would also like to thank _Edgar H. Sutter_ for some of the Ideas for this story .

Some of my readers have messaged me saying that they didn't understand what suit Kara was wearing. Just a little clarification, it's the new 52 suit that she wears in the comics, only with it's coloring like that of superman's suit in the animated movies.

And as always ,thanks for all the comments and all the suggestions! It really helps! And thanks for all the views!

Enjoy !

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Eleven -The Mind Within**

* * *

 _FEBRUARY 2, 01:25 EDT_

The clear full moon cast it's luminescent light over the walkways, with clouds partly hiding edges of the giant round ball of white light in the inky night sky . The streets were empty, for it was the first hour of the Monday morning and nobody was out late, for they all had school or work the next day.

Kara, Kyle, Garfield and M'gann stood on the paved roadway standing in the way of an upturned getaway truck out of which brownish bags of green currency notes were streaming out onto the tarred road .

With Kori visiting Dick, who was recuperating from the mind control toxin at the hall of justice in Metropolis, Jaime visiting his family back home ,Damian doing the dynamic duo thing with Batman in Gotham and Kid Flash still recovering from being under the mystery toxin, Garfield, Kara, Kyle, M'gann and Raven were the only titans available at the time.

On top of the upturned truck in front of them stood a slender looking man with a rather knobbly figure. He was dressed mostly in a blackish body suit of some sort, coupled with a peculiar looking black helmet that looked like an emu's crest, with a pointy top. His suit had some sort of golden colored gadgetry along his waist line and on his wrists. His suit also had a circular gold plated device plugged into the middle of his chest, protruding outward ever so slightly.

The man sported a scruffy goatee and he also seemed to be wearing black eyeliner around his eyes, for what purpose, Kara didn't know. The man's fists were clenched as a golden, circular halo of translucent energy encircled his palms .

"Your pathetic show of skills can't hope to match the power of Doctor Light!", the man proclaimed proudly with much bravado to his voice before he extended his arms outward and shot a steady beam of focused golden energy at where the the four titans stood.

At a moment's notice, all four of them dispersed , out of the beam's way, with Garfield morphing into a hawk.

The beast boy soared up and morphed into a panther, charging towards the man with his teeth bared. At the last second, the man dodged out of the way.

"You are fast, child.", the man remarked at the green furred panther.

He then proceeded to open the circular crest in the middle of his chest like a hatch, out of which a jet of golden energy shot out at Garfield.

"But I doubt you'd enjoy moving at the speed of light!", Doctor light jeered as the beam moved in the blink of an eye, catching Garfield straight in the chest, sending him flying skywards with smoke trailing off his body.

Kyle than shot forwards, shooting beams of green energy at 'doctor light', which the man parried with a force field of his own.

"A Green lantern would be threatening, if it were one of the other two I were facing.", the man jeered as he shot an electrical shock deployer that caught Kyle by surprise,with the circular disk the size of one's palm latching onto his chest before the teenager could put up a shield around him. Instantly the device activated, sending a high voltage electrical shock through his body, sending him dropping to the floor as his lantern energy fought to parry the electrical shock coarsing through his blood.

M'gann then moved in, picking up nearby vehicles with her force grip and hurling them at doctor Light. He shot an immense surge of golden energy shot out of his chest, decimating the vehicles into pure dust .

Doctor light then hurled a silvery disk at M'gann that released a translucent energy field around her, entrapping the green skinned martian within, unable to move any further. M'gann tried to shift her density to weave her way through the energy field around her, but the moment she touched it, it sent an energy shock at her. It was hopeless anyway. She couldn't do density shifting . She wasn't on J'onn's level yet .

Kara flew in, forcing Doctor light onto his backfoot by shooting her heat vision at him. She then landed next to the upturned truck and uprooted a lamp post.

"Knock yourself out, lightweight.", She smirked before moving forwards , swinging the lamp post with her.

"Cause things are about to get super heavy!", she roared as she swung around the pole in her hand.

As the pole came crashing down, Doctor Light leapt backwards, out of the way as the lamp crashed into the road, cracking it open on impact.

Seething in rage, the man shot a ball of golden light at Kara to keep her distracted. Being the immature girl she was, Kara took the bait, looking up to shoot heat vision at the ball of golden light , unaware of the perpetrator forming a crimson glowing energy around his hands.

Kara realized her mistake too late, and by the time she looked own, the crimson ball had hit her squarely on the chest, knocking her backwards. On impact, the ball of red light morphed into a thick, greyish foam that spread around Kara rapidly, encasing her whole, leaving only her head outside to breathe as she struggled in her casing, unable to move.

"That's High density polyerthane foam. The more you struggle, the more you make it stronger!", doctor light boasted .

"Get back here and fight me, asshole!", Kara roared in anger as she struggled in the foam, feeling it getting stronger.

"All brawn and no brain, I see.", doctor light chided .

"Now..If nobody minds, I'll be taking the cash .", doctor light sneered at Kara and the figures of all the other titans he had beaten.

Just then, a raspy female voice spoke up from behind doctor light.

"I mind.", Raven proclaimed.

Everyone watched as the hooded girl began floating above the ground, swirls of dark energy forming around her palms.

"Azarath. Metrion. Zin-AAHH!", Raven yelled mid sentence as Doctor light shot a beam of golden energy at her, sending her crashing backwards, onto the roadway.

"You possess more powerful magic than I. But I possess shorter magic incantations.", doctor light taunted as he advanced on her, his fists glowing golden yet again as he prepared to strike.

Raven clenched her teeth as her anger began to grow at being hit. Instantly, her dark energy took possession of a nearby parked car, sending it flying at doctor light. The trapped titans watched as the man burst the vehicle into dust and smoke as it approached him, with just his palm extended out in front of him.

"Who the hell _is_ this guy?", Kara scoffed as Kyle tried to help her out of her casing.

They heard another explosion behind them and whipped around to see Raven getting blasted off her feet by a powerful energy blast form doctor light. Kara tried to speed up her process by using her heat vision on her casing .

They watched as Doctor Light approached Raven as the sixteen year old girl got to her feet, her back turned towards him and her hood drawn up.

"Don't come any closer..", Raven hissed all of a sudden, rolling her hands into fists .

The titans watched as the doctor light chuckled tauntingly, clearly unaware of Raven's true power.

"What's the matter? Afraid of the light?", the boastful man chided with a sneer .

All of a sudden,Raven's skin turned crimson , her eyes split into four across her face, the place where her irises should have been turning blood red as she bared her teeth, whipping around to face the villain.

Her figure grew a lot taller, rising up into the air almost eight feet off the ground, the edges of her black cape morphing into tentacles that whipped around through the black smoke wafting out from under her feet.

The titans watched, shocked in the place as the tentacles shot forward, grasping doctor light around his limbs, strangling him . The strength of her tentacles squashed the gadgetry on doctor light's suit, forcing the man to yell in pain .

Then, the tentacles began to draw inwards, back into the depths of her cape, leaving the terrified doctor light to claw on the pavement hopelessly as he was dragged inwards.

"AHH! No stop! What're you- YOU WIN!", the terrified man yelped as the demonic look on Raven sneered.

"Your Impudence will be purged,human!", the demonic voice that came out of her mouth chided menacingly as she continued to reel him in.

"RAVEN! STOP!", Kyle yelled in shock as he flew towards her.

Instantly, Raven seemed to have snapped out of her sudden demonic possession, riverting back to her usual look, albeit looking weakened , as she fainted to the floor.

M'gann and Garfield rushed to the huddled figure of doctor light, who was lying on the road, hugging his knees to his chest, murmuring constantly in an inaudible tone, a look of pure terror in his eyes that were wide open. His body lay shivering from head to toe and most of his body suit was damaged.

"Make it stop...Make it stop...So...dark...No..Please..", the sorry looking figure of a man murmured, laying on the pavement.

"M'gann , try getting into his mind to help him calm down.", Garfield suggested.

"But I thought I'm not supposed to intrude on one's personal space.", M'gann added, a little confused.

"You invading his personal space may be what he needs right now!", Garfield yelped, clearly a little disturbed by the look on the man's face.

" !", M'gann murmured quietly and lightly touched her temples as her eyes began to glow bright green.

After a few seconds, she groaned and let her shoulders droop.

"I can't get through. I just see...shattered images within his mind. Nothing's connected. He may need someone more accomplished than me to fix him. ", M'gann said, a little tired from the night's activities.

Kara, finally free from her containment, flew over to where Kyle was picking Raven up in a giant glove he had formed.

"What the hell was that!?", the blonde teenager yelped, just as disturbed as her teammates.

"I...don't know..", Kyle muttered as he looked down at the motionless figure of their teammate.

* * *

The sun sparkled over the titans tower as the inhabitants grumbled about towards the common room, which was adjacent to the kitchen area . Kara could already smell and deduce that someone was cooking.

The titans had a long night, with Kyle and Garfield getting an unconscious Raven back to the tower while Kara and M'gann proceeded to take the disturbing figure of what used to be the boasting doctor light,to the hall of justice, with M'gann stating that while she couldn't fix the man's mind, her uncle, a much more accomplished telepath, may be able to do so.

As she and Garfield made their way to the common room, yawning, they found Kyle lounging on the couch , upside down, with his head inches away from the floor as he flicked through the channels on the giant telescreen. M'gann stood behind the kitchen slab, an apron attached to her as she was deeply engrossed in her cooking. Raven was nowhere to be seen.

Upon seeing the arrival of her two teammates, M'gann beamed.

"Good morning, friends!", the perky martian girl piped up excitedly, clearly wide awake as she slipped the apron off of her and took in the plates .

"Is it just me or does she remind you of sparkly alien princess a bit?" Kara mumbled as Garfield snickered.

"Breakfast is served!", M'gann beamed as she walked towards the other three titans, who were now seated at the white eating table.

As she neared them, Kara, who was sipping on her coffee, spat it out in shock as she gaped at M'gann with wide eyes.

Following her gaze, the Garfield also shrieked at what they were seeing. Kyle, however, didn't seem too perturbed.

M'gann stood before them, holding five plates in each of the five hands along her body.

"What's wrong? I didn't intrude anyone's head this time.", the young martian girl remarked, a little confused about her teammates' expression.

"Um...M'gann.. I don't mean to be oppressive or anything but..um.. Would ya not walk around with five arms wiggling around on your body?", Garfield replied quietly, still eyeing her.

M'gann's eyes widened in realization as she looked down at her body.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Me and my uncle shapeshift whenever we can't do something with two arms.I just did it now without thinking. Sorry.", M'gann piped apologetically .

The green martian laid the plates down on the table and shrunk her extra arms back into her body.

"Hey. Why weren't you shocked at seeing five-arms over here?", Kara scoffed at Kyle, who was cooly sipping on his morning beverage.

"Hey. I'm a green lantern, in case you peeps didn't notice. I see multi limbed aliens all the time. No biggie.", the sixteen year old replied as he looked down at his plate.

Garfield looked down at his plate , blinking twice.

"Uh..M'gann. The eggs and bacon look fine but..I think you over fried them a bit. They're not supposed to be black.", the green skinned teen titan remarked , pointing at his plate.

Looking down, Kara noticed that everyone's plate contained charred chunks that didn't look remotely edible . Then she noticed Kyle cooly eating his over roasted bread as if it were perfectly cooked.

"Are you kidding me?", Kara scoffed.

"Hey, I've been forced to eat grossh alien food before ,as a shign of peache between planet stationsh. This shtuff ish pretty okay in comparishon.", Kyle replied through a mouthful of black bread and bacon.

"Whatever..", Kara muttered before the room went dead quiet as the figure of Raven walked into the room, not greeting any of them good morning. They watched as she walked over to the main kitchen area and pour herself a cup of steaming hot tea.

M'gann smiled at the entrance of her teammate.

"Good morning, Raven. Would you like some breakfast? I cooked it myself!", the green skinned martian girl piped up.

Raven said nothing but let out a deep sigh.

"I'm having tea.", she simply stated, taking a sip with her back turned to them. It was the first time they were all seeing her since last night's incident.

Kyle slurped up his beverage and picked up his plate to clean it.

Walking over, he held it up to his face and put on a goofy grin, trying to cheer up his teammate .

"Come on! M'gann made this with hard work. I know cause I watched her do it. Besides, You could use the fresh food after the way you cooked doctor light yesterday!", the green lantern said without thinking his words through.

Immediately, dark energy outlined her body, giving off an eerie presence to the teenage girl as she smashed her cup onto the slab, whipping around, gritting her teeth in anger as her eyes began to glow red again.

"NOO!", the usually quiet teen titan roared, shocking the life out of Kyle as he switched to his lantern gear.

But after the outburst, Raven said no more and simply walked back out of the common room, disappearing as the door slid shut behind her.

Kyle was glaring after her, his lips pursed .

Garfield, who had a terrified look on his face, walked up behind the green lantern, who switched back to his pajamas.

"Dude. Maybe you should go apologize to her.", the green skinned titan muttered, looking at the sliding door through which their slightly demonic teammate had disappeared.

Kyle's jaw dropped.

"Me!? apologize to her?! What for!? I'm not the one who turned all Halloween in February. ", Kyle scoffed, defending himself. "Besides, she's never liked me much. ", Kyle added as an afterthought.

"Yeah but after the weirdness that went down last night, you should know better than to go messin with her.", Kara added as she walked by, holding her empty plate to clean it.

"I was trying to be nice!", Kyle exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air to emphasize his point.

"Dude. Raven's..kinda complicated. We still don't know all that much about her besides the fact that her dad's the devil himself.", Garfield said nonchalantly.

"So? She's part demon, bro! How can we fully trust her?", Kyle chided angrily at the lack of support he was getting.

"She's our friend. What more do we need to know?", M'gann added with a smile, floating by with her plate.

"I wonder what Damian would've said if he were here.", Garfield added, tapping his chin.

"HA! I knew it! I wasn't wrong when I thought they were a thing!", M'gann exclaimed victoriously form behind the slab before shrinking out of view in embarrassment as her teammates stared at her sudden exclamation.

"But. I agree with Gar. I think you should just go apologize. How hard can it be?", Kara added.

/

Kyle stood outside Raven's dorm door, scratching his head, thinking of what to say. He had never really spoken much with Raven. They both had just sort of...existed together on the team at the same time for over eleven months before Kara's arrival. She was more indoorsy and quiet while he was more outdoorsy .

He had just taken a bath and finding that all his teammates were preoccupied, he just decided on getting the thing done and over with as quickly as possible. He was wearing a pair of dark brown cargo shorts with a grey full sleeved Tee-shirt.

Closing his eyes and turning his head away, he extended his arm out to her door and tapped it ever so quietly and not waiting long for her to answer, Kyle spun on his heel, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Well. Looks like she's not home!", the teenaged lantern proclaimed before he heard the sound of someone clearing her throat. Opening his eyes, he took notice of Kara standing in front of him, a smirk on her face , a cocked eyebrow and her hands on her hips. She was in her sleeveless sweatshirt and baggy pants.

"Oh Great.", Kyle cursed under his breath.

"Ya might wanna knock a little louder.", Kara remarked before walking past him, grabbing the collar of his shirt and dragging him behind her as she did so.

With both of them standing in front of Raven's door, Kara folded her knuckles and rammed hard on metallic sliding door. The sound of her knocking on the door echoed noisily throughout the corridor Kyle was sure he saw the walls vibrate slightly.

Suddenly, there was an echoing crack that erupted from the wall and second later, the door unhinged and fell back inwards into the room.

Both of them stared blankly at the unhinged door on the floor as dust rose up at their feet.

"Uh...", Kara muttered blankly not sure of how to act.

"Well. At least I won't goin in alone to face her.", Kyle remarked with a dumbfounded expression.

Taking a sigh simultaneously, both titans stepped inside the room.

To say the least, Raven's room was rather...dark.

The lights were switched off, so it accentuated the darkness of the four walls. Spooky looking masks and creepily crafted light shades hung from the walls, orangish in glow.

There was a large, ornately constructed wooden chest in one corner of the room . There was a bookshelf with rows constructed in a wavelike shape, containing stacks of books with labels in languages neither of them could read. On the wall was a diamond shaped mirror next to which stood a purplish and black table. There was even a crudely carved portion of the wall, in which four thick books were placed.

There was one triangular shaped bed placed next to the wall that faced the doorway, with a purplish and black wall behind the bed had paintings of dark images and weird looking creatures that gave Kara the shivers just looking at it.

"Uh...Raven?", Kyle called out, a little unsurely as both of them stared into the room, not daring to venture in.

"Sorry about upsetting you earlier..I didn't mean it..", the green lantern continued on when no answer came.

"I..don't think she's here. Come on.", Kara whispered to the teenaged lantern and before he could stop her, the blonde girl was already strolling into the room, glancing around with her hair dancing behind her as she marched in.

"Kara! Get back here!", Kyle hissed, still at the doorway, not daring to set foot inside.

"Looks like Halloween came early this year..", Kara whispered, ignoring his pleas.

"We're in Raven's room! We should not be in Raven's room! .", Kyle hissed angrily at Kara as he walked up to her side.

Kara cocked an eyebrow and chuckled arrogantly.

"What the flameo? I thought a Green lantern's not supposed to have fear.", Kara teased him.

"I am not scared!", Kyle huffed, defending his dignity. "I just don't intend to go looking for trouble."

"Come on! She's not here! This is the perfect opportunity to learn more about her. And don't worry about the door. I got heat vision. I can weld pretty much any metal. She won't even know we were here.", Kara remarked, waving him off and walking towards what appeared to be Raven's dressing table.

She ran her eyes over the contents on the table. Raven's leather jacket, her shorts, a few spell books and..some kind of hand held mirror. It was ornately made, with a silvery frame that bore some sort of runic inscriptions on it.

Picking it up, Kara chuckled as she checked her own face and hair in the mirror.

"Ha! Check this out! Raven's got a beauty mirror! I mean..Who would've thought she spends her time in here sprucing?", Kara snorted.

"Kara put that back where you found it and let's get out of here! I do not want to be here when she comes back!", Kyle hissed as he tiptoed across the room towards her.

"Relax! Stop acting like one of those girls on those teenage drama shows you and Garfield watch.", Kara teased and as she turned too look back at the mirror, she yelped as she caught sight of four devilish looking blood red eyes staring back at her through the mirror's pane.

She tried to drop the mirror but found out that she couldn't let palms were wrapped on the mirror's handle as if they had been stuck there with super glue.

"Ha! You _are_ scared ! What happened to the hot-headed 'I-have-no-fear' girl from-", Kyle was taunting her but he dropped off mid sentence when a giant , translucent , ghostly black arm burst out of the mirror Kara was holding .As he watched in shock, the black palm wrapped it's fingers around Kara, strangling her before it began to retreat back into the mirror, taking Kara with it.

Kyle instinctively switched to his lantern form and formed a giant emerald gorilla construct that began tugging hard at Kara's legs, trying to keep her from getting sapped into the mirror whole. But then, all was lost as the being from within the mirror suddenly increased in strength and before Kyle could convert his construct into something stronger, it tugged her into the mirror whole, with him holding onto her legs.

Their screams echoed in the room for a while before it faded to nothingness and the hand held mirror dropped to the carpeted floor, unmoving, appearing harmless again.

* * *

The first thing Kara could feel was the splitting pain on the top of her head, on the crown. Then her fingers moved an inch and she could feel a rugged, uneven surface underneath her skin. The room floor ?

No. It felt...More coarse, more..rocky.. more.. jagged.

She heard a dull murmur through her , slowly, her ears cleared out and she felt someone violently shaking her by the shoulder.

"KARA! Wake up! ", she heard Kyle's voice yelling at her.

Groaning, she got to her feet, clutching her head .

As she opened her eyes, her blurred vision slowly cleared first thing she noticed was the black void around them. Not a single trace of sunlight . The entire area around them seemed to have crimson burning balls of ..something.. that looked like stars in space. not quite.

Looking around , she saw rock debris and rocky formations floating aimlessly through the void, much like an asteroid belt. There wasn't much to describe, really. The black void around them seemed endless, stretching out far past what Kara's zoomed in vision could see. She caught sight of a greenish glow next to her and looking around,she saw Kyle hovering next to her.

"Where...are we?", the blonde teenager whispered as she looked down. They themselves were floating through the void, standing on a much larger chunk of rock , an upside down conical formation the size of an average bedroom area.

"Damn it, Kara. I told you we shouldn't have gone in her room.", Kyle muttered, shooting his teammate an annoyed glare. "Let me see if I can locate which sector of the galaxy we're in."

"Kyle..I..don't think we're in space. I'd have choked out due to the vacuum. ", Kara mumbled quietly as she walked to the edge, glancing down over the edge of their rocky platform to see nothing but black vastness underneath them .

"We're...still on earth..", Kyle muttered, a little bewildered as he re-opened his eyes.

"Right...", Kara mumbled, a little shocked and yet amazed as she switched to her supergirl uniform.

"We must be in another dimension or something.", Kyle suggested as he glanced around.

"If this is Raven's idea of a Joke, sending us here...", Kara muttered as she hovered off the ground .

"She didn't send us here! You went ahead and started snooping around in her room, touching stuff you shouldn't be!", Kyle hissed as he flew forward.

"Aw, Shut up already.", Kara muttered under her breath as she flew forward at a slow pace, following him.

Unbeknownst to them, a dark figure of a black raven bird sat perched on a nearby floating tree branch, glaring at them with it's four crimson eyes.

/

"Who booby-traps a goddamn mirror!?", Kara huffed as the two of them flew on silently, following the trail of asteroids ,hoping to get to someplace .

"I don't know. I don't think this was a trap.", Kyle muttered as he glanced around.

"I wasn't a part of the team over three years ago but I've heard from Jaime and Gar what a creepy looking hell-hole of a place Raven's home is. Maybe this was her way home.", Kyle suggested.

Kara caught sight of a lone , twisted looking oak tree over growing on a drifting asteroid debris, with it's roots entwined on the rock whole.

"Definitely weird enough..", Kara muttered, feeling a shiver run down her spine.

"We have no idea where we're even going.", Kyle groaned after a few minutes of silently flying.

Just then, they spotted the figure of what appeared to be a young, probably ten year old, kid , standing on e one large rocky platform, his back turned away from them.

"Hey! Maybe we can ask that little guy over there. ", Kara smiled .

"Kara, don't do anything stupid. This is another dimension. Raven's dimension. We don't even know what lives here!", Kyle hissed warning but Kara, being the outspoken person she was, waved him off.

"Nah. Can't be too bad. Raven's our friend. She couldn't possibly have anything in here that'll harm us. Besides. I'm basically a female superman and you're a green lantern. We can take whatever dangers this place has got!", Kara chuckled arrogantly and flew forward, landing softly next to the boy's back.

"Hey, little guy.", Kara began in the sweetest tone she could muster.

"Could you direct me and my friend to the nearest exit portal out of the freaky Halloween dimension?", Kara inquired sweetly.

Upon being talked to, the child figure turned to face Kara and Kyle and stared blankly at them . Both of them took a step back, creeped out. The child had slightly torn skin with inky black eyes that contained no whites. Then, all of a sudden, the eyes changed shape, turning crimson and simultaneously, the child's figure began to morph, growing into something large and grotesque.

Kara and Kyle watched as the thing grew to over ten feet, much larger and more imposing than either of them. It morphed four arms on it's torso and it's skin turned blood red, with some form of fur covering it's skin. Four crimson flowing eyes formed on the creature's face and it's razor sharp teeth bared at them, the size of an entire door, if one could compare them .The thing hunched over, ever so slightly, due to it's immense size . It had grey purplish hair on it's head and had a weird looking sideburn that hung off the sides of it's face.

"Um...I guess you're not a friendly..", Kara muttered as her eyes were wide open , taking in the size of the massive creature. The thing, in response, stomped it's feet, sending Kyle flying backwards as it roared at the two of them, with Kara still standing rooted to the spot, her hands thrown up to shield her face.

The thing drummed imposingly on it's chest like a gorilla before throwing a punch at Kara, which she caught head on with both her hands, smirking.

"I don't know if you know this, giant demonic thing, but.. that's not gonna do much.".

As an answer, the creature punched Kara squarely on her whole body with one if it's free arm, sending her spiraling backwards aerially, crashing into a floating rocky formation nearby.

The behemoth of a creature roared in anger, a screeching noise emitting from it's mouth as it swung it's arms around, forcing Kyle to swerve around and create a circular shield around him to protect himself from the creature's punches.

As the being was caught up in hammering the teenaged green lantern, Kara recovered from her concussion and shot forwards, her fists out in front of her as she shot heat vision at the creature, striking it bluntly on it's rib area, forcing it to groan in pain.

"COME ON! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT!?", Kara roared as she shot toward the creature, raining down punches at it's body as she moved in super speed, her arms a blur as she landed blows on it. The moment the creature tried to strike her, she would simply cease her punching and shift to another position at the speed of sound before continuing on her attack.

The demonic horned creature roared, irritated and soon enough, a fifth arm morphed out of it's body, taking Kara by surprise, wrapping it's palm around her entire body and it began crushing her whole. Kara would normally be impervious to such attacks but since this creature had a magical element, she began to feel the intense pain of her body being crushed .

Then, out of nowhere, a giant flying emerald dragon materialized out behind the creature and bit into it's shoulder while the dragon's limbs wrapped itself around the demonic creature's body. At being bitten, the creature roared in apparent pain and flung Kara straight at a passing by by landmass, decimating it into crumbled pieces upon impact. Kara hovered through the void, disoriented, groaning as she recovered from the attack.

" Your magic may be of use against a kryptonian's strength but you got nothin on a green lantern!", Kyle proclaimed proudly as his dragon construct was engaged with the demonic creature, it's teeth dug into it's shoulders as the creature tried to grasp at the dragon on it's back with no avail.

"That's right baby! Green lantern-one, demon monster-zero!", Kyle yelled proudly as his dragon slashed and clawed at the creature's back with the thing unable to catch a hold of him.

Then, all of a sudden, the thing's head spun three hundred and sixty degrees on it's neck, facing Kyle's dragon and glared straight at the form of the teenaged lantern, who had a shocked look on his face.

"Oh crap...", Kyle muttered with an aghast expression.

Before he could react, the creature landed one solid blow on Kyle, sending him crashing to the ground. As he slowly picked himself upto his feet, the behemoth of a creature marched forward, the very ground beneath them shaking with each step and it clasped too hands,raising them above it's head , roaring as it prepared to bring it's hands down on the recovering green lantern.

Then, all of a sudden, it was knocked out from underneath it's feet and once it was aerial momentarily, Kara , who had shot towards it and saved Kyle, wasted no time in grabbing a hold of one of it's feet before spinning on her heel rapidly,forming a sort of twister before she let go of it's limb, sending it flying off the giant rock mound they were all standing on.

The creature was apparently unable to fly as it flew over two hundred feet away before it plummeted down into the black abyss below.

"That thing was nasty...", Kyle panted as Kara walked up to him, herself a little tired from engaging with a demonic monster.

"And I though with you being a green lantern, you had seen every bit of weird there was to see in the galaxy?", Kara asked tauntingly.

"Exactly my thoughts!", a rather perky, cheery female voice piped up from somewhere.

"Uh...was that you?", Kyle asked, a little confused as both of them stared around . No one was there in the vicinity as Kara shook her head.

Then, as they watched, a transparent figure rose up out of the very rocky ground they were standing on before materializing into the familiar opaque form of their teammate, Raven.

"Hey guys! What's up!?" , Raven asked, waving rather cheerfully.

"Um..I don't know what real and what's not anymore..", Kyle simply stated, his jaw wide open as both of them gaped at her. Immediately, Raven , for the first time since Kara had joined the team, began laughing , giggling out loud, her face beaming in a manner identical to the expression M'gann usually had.

Something was strange about Raven. She was smiling a lot more than she usually did and she was wearing a pinkish hooded cape instead of her usual purple or black one.

"RAVEN!? What the..I mean..How did...You weren't.. you just...", Kara was stammering as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing until she caught sight of the pink cape on her female teammate.

"Why're you wearing pink!?", Kara inquired incredulously.

Instantly, Raven began chuckling girlishly.

"Cause...It's my favorite color?", she exclaimed.

"It is?", Kyle chimed in, a little confused as he flew down next to them .

"Look.", Kara began, shaking her head. "I'd love to stay and chat with smiling Raven in this Halloween wonderland but..I don't suppose you could get us back home?", Kara asked, a little impatiently, for she was irritated at their current predicament and with the sudden appearance of Raven.

"Sure can!", Raven beamed before nodding towards an arched doorway that formed up behind her as she spoke.

"You just gotta head through the forbidden door. It's the only way out. ",Raven said with a sweet smile.

She caught Kara's hand as the blonde girl tried to walk forward to the designated doorway, which was a rocky arched mound that formed on the giant floating landmass the three of them were standing on.

"But you don't wanna go there. Not right now, anyways.", Raven added a little oddly.

Kara and Kyle exchanged stupified glances.

"Uh..yeah we do.", both of them remarked in union.

Raven giggled girlishly and whipped around.

"Kay! But don't say I didn't warn ya!", Raven chirped before skipping away like a little girl.

"Um..Have you ever seen her this happy?", Kara muttered to Kyle, who had known Raven longer than she had. Well ,he had been a titan longer than she had, anyway.

"Honestly...The happiest I've seen her is when she has a small smile on her face. That's it. I've never seen her laughing out loud.", Kyle whispered back as both of them followed their teammate, who was happily skipping away.

They flew in through the arched doorway, following their usually quiet teammate . As they passed through the doorway, bright white light hit them head on, forcing them to blink a few times as their eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness hurled at them. As their eyes adjusted, their jaws dropped again.

They were no longer in the space-like area that they had crashed into just a few minutes , they were standing in what appeared to be some sort of tropical paradise, with clear blue skies, palm trees with pink leaves and violet coconuts and peculiarly pink sandy beaches .

But there was not a single soul in sight. Not even animals or birds. Instead, there were strawberries and other such fruits floating through the air, with the strong smell of sweet lavender and honey wafting through the air.

"Uh... I still can't tell if I'm dreaming or if all this is real... Are we in Candyland?", Kyle muttered.

"I think this may be where air fresheners come from..", Kara muttered sheepishly , taking in a sharp intake of breath through her nostrils.

Suddenly, Raven's high pitched laughing rang out through their ears again as she retraced her skips back to them.

"Aw, man. I haven't laughed this much since a long time!", Raven giggled , ruffling Kara's hair as if she was a little child, before skipping on ahead of them, leaving Kara and Kyle to stare after her in confusion.

/

Back at the tower, Garfield was lying on the floor, watching an animal programme on one of the channels, a vaguely interested expression on his face. M'gann came walking in, looking around.

"Garfield?", M'gann called out, walking up to his figure lying on the floor.

"Yeah?", the green skinned sixteen year old grunted.

"I don't suppose you know where Kara is, do you? I searched the entire tower for her and scanned for her consciousness. I was hoping to hang out with her. But she is nowhere to be found. ", M'gann remarked with a concerned tone.

"It's nothin. She must've gone out or something. She's got superspeed. Probably in the city by now.", Garfield replied, sniffing his nose, not at all perturbed.

M'gann's brows furrowed as she thought for a moment.

"But during my telepathic scan for Kara, I couldn't track Kyle's consciousness either. Both of them seem to be missing. ", M'gann replied smally .

The two green skinned teenagers searched the entire dorm floor and couldn't find a trace of either Kara or Kyle. Instead, what they found when they neared Raven's room was that her door had been knocked down inwards.

Tracking her consciousness, M'gann located Rave sitting in the garden outside, meditating with her eyes closed, with a lamp set with fire next to her on the green grass.

"Hey...Raven?", Garfield called out tentatively. At first there was no answer before she let out a sigh .

"I told you all to leave me alone.", she replied through her raspy voice, not opening her eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah. We will. We're just trying to find Kara and Kyle . I don't suppose you got a clue ?" Garfield asked tentatively.

"Not a clue." she replied impatiently.

". But.. are you feeling okay? We stopped by your room and the door's been knocked down.", Garfield remarked, a little surprised at the sight himself.

Instantly, Raven's eyes shot open in shock as she realized why she couldn't concentrate on her meditation all morning since breakfast. Instantly, without speaking a word to her two teammates, she left the scene, flying out of sight back into the tower.

"Many of you earthly ways are still new to me..But that was just plain rude, right?", M'gann remarked quietly as the two of them exchanged bewildered looks.

/

Raven pursed her lips as she entered her room. Well. Nothing seemed to have been touched. That was a good sign. She walked in and used her powers to fix the door back in it's place.

She glanced around, walking to her table and drew out the cupboard to find that her personal diary were untouched. That was a relief. She then checked her spell books. All of it was still there. She was about to let out a sigh of relief before she caught sight of her hand held mirror lying on the carpeted floor and utter shock and fear gripped her whole as she understood what had happened.

"No..", she whispered in shock as her pupils dilated in fear at what Kara and Kyle could be facing inside the realms of the mirror.

/

Kyle and Kara were flying on ahead through the designated pathway directed by Raven, who disappeared, claiming she had other businesses to attend to.

"Was that just me or.. did you think that was super weird ? Seeing Raven behave like M'gann was just...freaky?", Kara muttered to the teenaged lantern, who shrugged as they passed through the arched doorway made of swirling pink striped candycanes.

Instantly, once on the other side, their candy surroundings seemingly vanished, leaving them in what looked like the same space-like void dimension that they had entered before.

"Okay. WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!?", Kara roared out furiously, evidently irritated as both of them stopped flying, hovering aerially , looking around.

Just then, Kara was received the fright of her life as Raven re-appeared inches behind them, making the girl of steel throw up her arms and legs , cowering with one eye closed, peering at the form of their teammate.

"RAVEN!? WHAT THE HELL! YOU CAN'T JUST POP IN AND OUT NEXT TO US WHENEVER YOU LIKE! AND YOU SENT US RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE!", Kara growled at her teammate in annoyance.

Instantly, Raven withdrew away from the both of them, stepping a few steps back in what could be described as pure terror written on her face. Her eyes began to well up in tears and she began to sniff softly.

"Hey. Kara. Simmer down. You're making her cry!", Kyle huffed, holding back his companion, who was marching forward.

"I'm not..what?", Kara mumbled, a little confused as she took noticed of Raven wiping her eyes with a sad expression on her face. There was also something different about her, this time around. She was wearing a sky blue cape and had an overall somber appearance about her.

"Whoa.I'm..sorry.. I didn't think you were going to cry..You're usually..emotionless. I didn't mean it.", Kara apologized, trying to calm down her teammate while something else caught Kyle's eye and a jubilant expression stretched out over his face.

"Hey! That's that forbidden door you were talking about, right Raven?", the teenaged lantern perked up, flying forward and pointing ahead.

Raven nodded as she finally eased up.

"Well come on , girls! We've gotta get outta here!", Kyle exclaimed jubilantly and no sooner had he taken another step, a giant , twelve foot tall ,black rocky wall shot up out of the landmass they were standing on, sending the green lantern tumbling back. As he watched, similar walls of similar heights shot up everywhere around them, encasing them in what appeared to be a giant open ended box of rock.

"I don't have time for this crap.", Kara muttered and flew skyward. She only flew a few feet off the ground before a sudden blast of crimson energy hit her squarely in the chest, sending her crashing straight back down to the ground, next to Raven. Smoke was trailing off her chest as Kara was helped up off her knees by Raven.

"It's a there's an invisible force field around it. You can't escape.", Raven simply stated.

"Aw Come on! I'm never apologizing to you again for all this crap!", Kyle yelled in anger and constructed a large emerald hand cannon on his right arm and began firing emerald missiles at the nearby walls, not even being able to dent it. Kara tried to help by flying forward and landing heavy-weight punches on the rocky walls, not having any success.

"You can't get out like that. You have to go _through._ ", Raven mumbled morosely.

"So you know the way?", Kyle inquired .

Raven nodded quietly.

"So...Can you show us the way back? ", Kyle added , coming close to the two of them.

"I can . But I don't think I'm a good leader. I know many people don't like me. Sometimes I even think Damian only likes me because there's no one else...", Raven sighed, dropping her shoulders as Kara and Kyle exchanged confused glances.

"I know you both don't like me.", Raven mumbled, looking up at the two of them with saddened eyes.

"Come on! That not what we-", Kara began to defend herself before Raven completely ignored her, walking away quietly, leading the way, leaving both of them to stare after her, perplexed.

"Grr..Gee Raven..Moody much?", Kara muttered as she grinded her teeth in frustration.

"Man..She's like a whole different person!", Kyle exclaimed as the two of them walked forward, following after Raven as her cloak danced behind her.

/

Garfield was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, playing a car racing video game on the television as M'gann floated by and sat down next to him, handing him a bowl of cookies she had just freshly baked.

"Um...Garfield?", M'gann perked up quietly, not able to contain her angst anymore.

"Mhmm?", Garfield grunted to show that he was listening.

"It's been over three hours since Raven disappeared . Should we go see how she's doing?", the green skinned martian girl asked curiously.

Garfield flicked out his tongue , morphing it into a frog's tongue, grabbing a cookie from the bowl and flicking the elongated tongue back into his mouth. "I don't know..She said she wanted to be alone .. Besides..We gotta be around in case Kyle and Kara get back from wherever they are.", Garfield mumbled through his mouth stuffed with cookies.

"Oh. Okay. ", M'gann muttered as she took a bite "Could I also try out this game that you're playing?"

"Sure. ", Garfield replied, pausing his game and exiting before handing M'gann one of the controllers.

Having taught her the basic controls , Garfield sneered aggressively as both of them chose their respective teams and clicked on the start button.

"You better watch you back, Miss Martian. Cause you're about to enter the ring with the master!", Garfield proclaimed as M'gann cocked an eyebrow at him. Soon, both of them were engaged in the game, clicking away furiously at their buttons.

/

After almost fifteen minutes of silent walking, the three of them reached what appeared to be the clearing in the maze.

His eyes shooting wide open in relief, Kyle flew forward .

"That's the forbidden doorway, right?", he exclaimed jubilantly as Raven nodded.

"Finally!", Kara sighed and flew forwards before she stopped mid air as three , dark, figureless puffs of opaque smoke rose out of the reddish ground.

"Now what!?", she called out .

"They are my brother spirits. They will judge you. If they deem you worthy, you pass. If not, I am sorry.", Raven mumbled sadly.

"Sorry for what?", Kyle asked and when they turned back, a little confused, they found that Raven had disappeared yet again.

"Aw crap.", Kara cursed as three, demonic looking, translucent figures of dark fully materialized in front of them, with their four glaring red eyes and imposing canines .

"The rising deems you unworthy.", all the three figures chorused in union and before the two teen titans knew what was happening, the three figures shot forth towards them , forcing Kyle to create an emerald forcefield around the two of them to keep the demonic spirits at bay as the three apparitions clawed and bit at the emerald field.

"Damn it. ", Kyle cursed as he shot forth emerald fists out of his forcefield , landing blows on the three apparitions only to have the fists completely shoot through their smoke-like bodies, inflicting no apparent harm on them.

"I certainly don't wanna be there for Raven's homecoming .", Kyle muttered as he went back to just keeping the energy shield over them.

Just then, they heard an echoing female voice murmuring behind the three spirits, out of view and before the two of them knew what was happening, the spirits were seemingly evaporated into nothingness, leaving only their residual smoke trailing and their faint screeching .

"What the..", Kyle muttered .

As the smoke trailed away, the figure of a sixteen year old girl came into view, walking towards them. A familiar face. Raven.

"Raven!", Kyle sighed in relief. And this time, she was wearing her usual dark clothing and wore her usual unreadable expression.

But Kara had another entirely different feel about seeing their teammate again.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR DEAL!?",the blonde Kryptonian roared as she flew forwards.

"First you went berserk on Kyle for asking you to eat your food. Then you trapped us in this demonic hell-hole of a place. Then your began acting like M'gann all happy and cheery. Then you got all weepy. Make up your mind!", Kara yelled and Kyle could easily make out the irritated and furious expression on Raven's face.

"I don't mean to be rude. But would you just shut the hell up?", She simply retorted, making Kara stop her ranting instantly as she looked on, a dumbfounded expression on her face.

"I've never been all chirpy . I've never been all sad. You still think that you're in my home? You idiots trespassed on my property, knocked down my door, went snooping around where you shouldn't be and got yourself trapped inside the mirror. I want you both out!", Raven demanded, hissing out the final sentence.

"Mirror? What does your stupid beauty mirror have to do with the demons in your room?", Kara scoffed.

"That mirror you found was for meditation, you idiot. It helps me concentrate and keep my biggest fear at bay. It's a portal into my MIND!NOT FOR SPRUCING!", Raven roared at Kara through clenched teeth. The girl of steel definitely looked offended at being yelled at and looked like she was ready to rip the earth in half.

Kyle shot forth and put himself in between his two teammates, holding them back with an uneasy expression on his face.

"Okay, Ladies. I see that we are all tired and irritated ." Kyle said quickly before things got worse.

" Raven there was a _huge_ misunderstanding on our part and we're sorry for intruding into your personal space. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for making you mad at breakfast and Kara would like to apologize for knocking down your door. Amirite ?", Kyle hissed at Kara through gritted teeth, beckoning her to apologize and ease the tensions.

Kara huffed and stayed silent for a few seconds, crossing her arms on her chest and looking away before finally saying sorry through the corners of her mouth.

"There. See? That wasn't so hard! Now Raven. I don't supposed you could just teleport us back to the tower?", Kyle began .

Raven , calming herself down was about to answer when the very ground beneath them began to shake violently and the rocky ledges began to crumble falling off into the empty black void below them.

"You both have to go. Now!", Raven remarked, sounding a little apprehensive .

"I can't teleport you back because you're not on the material world. You need to head to the exit portal. I'll try and hold him off. ", Raven hissed.

"Him? Hold up. What's goin on here?", Kyle asked, a little confused about Raven's cryptic warning.

As an answer, a loud, screeching roar echoed out through the void, blowing dust and smoke with it.

"No..", Raven muttered with a fearful look on her face.

As the three of them watched, the ground beneath them began to crack open, with bright orange light shooting out of the cracks on the ground. Soon, a black plume of smoke rose out, materializing out of thin air , swirling upwards into a low intensity tornado of sorts , spinning as a figure began to materialize inside of the smoke, right before their eyes.

Soon, Kara caught sight of a horned humanoid creature with blood red skin materializing right in front of them, it's roar echoing through the void, tearing at their eardrums. It appeared to have it's entire back lit up in flames, with a white tail of hair running down from either sides of it's jaw, like elongated had four, glaring crimson eyes as it came into being in front of them. Black electricity ran down it's body, as the figure continued to form, standing at a towering thirty feet in height .It had fire on it's shoulder and forearms and seemed to be wearing jet black gauntlets and apparel on it's body, made of material not of the mortal world.

As the smoke cleared out, the fire on it's body crackled and seemingly vanished as a white flame of sorts appeared on it's head before moments later, it morphed into long, trailing white hair that hung down it's back. The massive demon opened it's crimson eyes and stared at the three of them . Then, as it fixed it's eyes on Raven, it's horns stretched and grew out more wrangled and twisted, accentuating it's imposing figure.

In contrast, the demon that Kara and Kyle had faced earlier was mere childsplay to the one standing in front of them.

"Raven..", the towering demon hissed as it took one step towards them, making the very ground they were standing on to vibrate visibly.

"Your reckoning is due.", the demon hissed , baring it's teeth .

"Who the...WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?",Kyle yelled in shock at the sheer size of the being in front of them.

"Well. I guess you both get the honor of meeting my father.", Raven mumbled through gritted teeth and Kara could easily sense the fear rolling off her shoulders.

Trigon glared down at the three figures on the ground and roared in anger.

"You will pay for your impudence, child!", the ginormous demon roared before shooting crimson beams of energy at where the three of them stood, forcing Kyle to put up a protective field around the three of them.

"We need to get out of here! Now!", Raven yelled and Kyle had no problem obeying. He backed away, still holding the energy shield over them, and the three of them flew straight towards the last arched rocky doorway, the path out of the dimension .

As they were inches away, a crimson beam of energy shot straight at Kyle, forcing him to lose concentration on his construction and he was blasted off, landing a few feet away with smoke trailing off him.

Kara flew over to help up their teammate as Raven took in a deep breath and flung her arms out in front of her.

"Azarath...Metrion..ZINTHOS!", the sixteen year old girl yelled as a black forcefield shot up around the three of them as Kyle got to his feet, a little disoriented.

Trigon bellowed in rage and stomped his foot , sending up a burst of dust and smoke around them as she shot yet another intense beam of energy from his four blood red eyes.

/

Garfield had beaten M'gann at the video game for the third time and he was now playing a game of scrabble, morphed into the form of an ant.

M'gann who had been searching for Garfield for a while caught notice of scrabble pieces moving by itself and upon closer inspection, found her teammate changed into an ant, shoving the tiles on the board.

"Garfield. Do you think we should now try and see how Raven's doing?", M'gann piped up hopefully.

Garfield shoved his tile into place before placing his hands on his ant hips, glaring up at Raven.

"For the hundredth time, M'gann. I don't intend to be on the receiving end of one of her rants. We should just leave her alone and let her come around by herself. We should be more worried about where the hell Kyle and Kara are. It's been over five hours since those two disappeared. ", Garfield huffed irritably.

/

Raven grit her teeth as she held up the forcefield against the full blast of Trigon's energy beams. Kara and Kyle walked up to her.

"I ...can't hold this up much longer", she groaned. "You both ..need to get out of my mind..now!", Raven hissed, struggling to speak , glancing at them with her eyes glowing bright white.

"And leave you alone with that nightmare?!", Kyle exclaimed, glancing up at the thirty foot tall demon that was bearing down on them.

"It's my problem. I don't need your help. This...isn't the real fight. He's just plaguing my mind. But if you both don't get out, you'll be..in trouble. If I lose, you'll be stuck in here forever! GO!", Raven yelled at them.

Kara and Kyle nodded a little reluctantly and were on their way, flying out towards the arched doorway when Trigon finally managed to break down Raven's force field and hit her full on as her body absorbed the full impact of his energy beams.

Instantly, just inches before the arched , rocky doorway, both Kara and Kyle stopped mid air when they heard Raven scream in pain and turned around to see her body crumpled on the floor, groaning.

As they watched, the great demon took possession of her body and she began to involuntarily float up , thirty feet above the ground level towards his face, where he began to crush her body, forcing her to scream out even more terribly.

"Foolish Child.", the crimson skinned demon chided as he gritted his teeth imposingly, increasing the pressure on Raven's body, forcing her to scream out even more terribly.

Just then, a female voice yelled out from nearby, taking the great crimson demon's attention off of his daughter's writhing form.

"Hey!", Kara yelled as the great demon's eyes diverted in her direction.

"You're a really messed up dad, you know that?", Kara roared as she flew at him at the speed of sound. Upon reaching near his chest area, she raised her fist and landed one solid blow , forcing him to tumble back in the concussive force of her punch.

The punch was enough to make Trigon lose his focus and his grip on his daughter's body , sending her motionless body plummeting back down. Just then, a large emerald green baseball glove, the size of an average entire bedroom expanded under Raven .

Kyle managed to catch her before she hit the ground and he flew down to her side as Kara began to shoot intense crimson light at Trigon. The great demon then shot the girl of steel head on with a burst of his own crimson light and she yelled in pain as she crashed back down to the ground, smoke trailing from her body.

"Alright. I've had a really long day today and I'm tired of your crap, Raven's dad.", Kyle yelled out as he saw Kara slowly get up from the crater around her, groaning.

The teenaged lantern flew up and furrowed his brows under his mask as he concentrated hard on his construct, creating a thirty foot tall tyrannosaurus Rex.

"I'm no Hal Jordan but I can kick your ass any day!", Kyle yelled at the demon before she thrust his gigantic construct forward, clawing and biting at Trigon , keeping him engaged, though the great demon didn't seem to be that much perturbed, simply taking the full force of the lantern's attacks without speaking a word or even a twitch of pain.

Kara flew over to Raven's side and helped her up.

"He's.. Not real.", Raven croaked out through her pain, clutching her left rib area.

"What?", Kara muttered, not understanding.

"My father...This isn't his true form. He's still trapped within the stone. This..is just a projection of him that is plaguing my mind. He 's been trying to get out ever since I put him in three years ago. Yesterday, he found a way to get into my subconscious mind without me knowing. His projection can only be destroyed by me,so simply punching him wont do. ", Raven elaborated.

Getting a whiff of what Raven was talking about, Kara nodded.

"We'll get his attention. You try and do your thing. ", the blonde girl replied before shooting in the direction of the towering demon.

Raven's eyes began to glow white as she flew upward, moving in silently , unnoticed by her father's projection.

Kara roared and shot straight for Trigon's head with both her hands out in front of her, fists clenched and made contact, allowing the concussive energy to force the gigantic demon to step sideways to maintain his balance. She then began to rain down punches on his crimson body as Kyle also kept the great demon busy with his ginormous dinosaur construct biting and clawing at the demon.

Raven flew in behind the crimson projection of her father and focused in on his energy as Kara and Kyle hammered blows on her father , who seemed less than perturbed by their attacks.

She hovered mid air momentarily before she raised her arms out in front of her and began murmuring the incantation.

" _Enak Rakuta_ _Rumah...Enak Rakuta Rumah..Enak Rakuta Rumah... Enak Rakuta RUMAH!",_ she called out with her focus mixed on her father's consciousness and her own body. Then as she recounted the incantation, black smoke trailed around her and began to swirl rapidly around her body.

/

Kyle was ripping and clawing at the great demon with all he could muster, concentrating hard on his dinosaur construct so that the demon wouldn't have a chance to retaliate. Kara was landing solid blows wherever possible, doing her best to keep the demon's attention off of Raven.

"You know? I thought I had bad parents for leaving me in an orphanage when I was kid. But you're way worse.I mean..Who tries to kill their daughter?", Kara kept rambling on as she punched and shot heat vision.

Then,Kyle's Tyrannosaurus rex lurched forward and bit deep into Trigon's shoulder, and for the first time, the great demon roared. He reacted. Whether in pain or in rage, nobody knew. But the demon growled and shot his gigantic hand straight at Kyle, cracking his construct open into nothingess and grabbed his body whole. Kyle began to yell in pain as the great demon began to crush him.

Kara shot to the ground and ripped out a chunk of the red sandstone beneath them as Kyle struggled to put up a force field around him to keep Trigon's hand from crushing him whole. Kara hoisted the rock ,which was the size of an average house, and flew straight up towards the demon's face,hurling the ginormous chunk of rock straight into Trigon's face, whereupon the great piece of rock crumbled into dust and smaller debris upon impact.

The demon glared up at Kara and shot an intense beam of crimson light straight at her, catching her off guard, sending her plummeting back down to the ground, yelling in pain as the demon continued on shooting at her with his crimson beams.

Kara slowly picked herself up from her crash site,, with her hands out over her head to shield her, struggling against the demon's crimson energy beams, gritting her teeth. Then, Trigon hurled Kyle, who was still in his grip, straight at Kara and as the teenaged lantern crashed into her, both of them flew back a few feet before lying , worn out on the ground. They had tried everything.

This.. _thing_ was impervious to a Kryptonian and a green lantern. What more could they do?

Then as both of them lay there, groaning , the great demon's eyes began to light up again and he was about to blast them with high intensity beams yet again before he paused abruptly with a shocked expression on his face.

"You're going back where you belong!", a tyrannical voice echoed out from behind Trigon, shocking both the titans who were still on the ground.

As Trigon turned around, he was standing face to face with an equally tall, tyrannical form of Raven . Kara and Kyle's jaw dropped in shock at this form of their teammate. She had crimson skin similar to Trigon, with four blood red eyes glaring at her father's figure. Her cloak's hue was also different now, and it had turned whitish in color . Black electricity ran along her body, similar to her father's and her teeth were now baring looked truly terrifying.

"You think you can hold me prisoner, Girl?", the great demon bellowed at his daughter's form.

Raven simply said nothing as her crimson eyes began to glow bright white as black halos emanated around her palms. As Kara and Kyle watched from below, Raven's eyes and mouth released a black stream of energy as her tyrannical form shot a black stream of focused, intense energy at her father, who countered it with a crimson jet from his own palms.

Both beams of energy met halfway, with Trigon pressing down on Raven, who was struggling to hold her own against her father's might. It had been three years since she last fought him. She had learnt a lot since then. Her powers had grown since then. She wasn't as afraid of him anymore. She didn't love him anymore and neither did she expect him to love her. She had friends who offered her love.

Raven roared as her eyes lit up ,a bright crimson in color, and she pushed forward and as her two teammates watched from below, her attacks began to overpower her father's beams and before Trigon could muster enough force to hit back, her beam struck him hard and instantaneously, his form seemingly exploded in a great cloud of torrential and rapidly moving smoke that encircled his body.

Then, as the smoke cleared, Trigon's thirty foot form was nowhere to be great demon appeared to have seemingly evaporated.

Raven felt relived that it was over. Had it been any longer and she didn't think she could've held onto her tyrannical form. Simultaneously, she felt her energy draining and she began to shrink back down to normal size, her eyes turned back to normal and her crimson skin seemingly disapparated. Her two teammates watched as their friend plummeted back down to the ground, unconscious.

The last thing Raven saw was her teammates yelling out her name in concern as Kyle shot towards her, a large, green bed forming underneath her to catch her.

* * *

Raven's head was hurting and she felt lethargic as she sat up in her bed, looking around to find her two teammates approaching her,both of them now switched to their casual clothing.

"Hnh...", Raven groaned as she rubbed her right temple, trying to ease the pain.

"How long have I been down?", she asked.

"Bout three hours ,give or take. ", Kyle replied, checking his watch.

"How're you feeling?", Kara inquired .

"Been better. Thanks.", Raven replied quietly.

"SO...I got a question. Which is the real you? This one or the giant thirty foot tall one ? cause that stuff was freaky but still awesome!", Kyle remarked .

So they had both seen her like that.

"Sorry to disappoint . This is the real me. But what you saw is a part of me as well. I don't want the others knowing about it . I have a hard enough time getting along with people as it is. ", Raven remarked quietly as Kara and Kyle exchanged glances.

"Don't worry. M'gann and Gar think that we went to the mall or something. They're just bummed out that we didn't invite them. Though we did tell them you weren't feeling well. So they're not gonna be coming in here anytime soon.", Kara replied.

Raven smiled and nodded to say thanks. Then a thought came to her and she furrowed her brows.

"You..guys stayed. I don't understand. It was all just in my mind. Why'd you both risk getting yourself trapped in there ?", Raven asked tentatively.

"Hey. You may creep me out at times, I'll admit. ", Kyle began.

"And we may not know each other very well yet.", Kara added.

"But you're still our our friend. What kind of friends would we be if we left you when you needed help the most?", they both asked , leaving Raven speechless.

She blushed, feeling a little embarrassed .

"Thanks.", she replied quietly, hugging herself.

Kyle flung out his arms and stretched wildly, yawning out loud.

"Well. Kori's staying here for a couple of days and she's making us some dinner. So, feel free to join us when you're ready.", he replied before walking out of Raven's room with Kara.

Raven simply sat there for a few silent seconds, looking at her hand held mirror lying on her table across the room.

Then she smiled quietly to herself and got up,changing to more casual clothing.

Then she walked to her door before shutting it behind her to join the others.

* * *

 **In case you guys haven't noticed, this chapter was a loose adaptation of an actual teen titans episode from the tv show. I just switched out the characters and didn't include the hive stuff here to slow down the story a bit more. Hope you guys found the chapter enjoyable! As always, please leave a review!**

 **Till next time!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Stakeout

Author's note : Just a little heads up, in my story, I've decided to make Bart Allen . His costume is essentially the one Wally wore in the Judas Contract movie,If you guys want a reference point.

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Twelve - Stakeout**

* * *

 _FEBRUARY 07, 02:16 EDT - THE JUSTICE LEAGUE WATCHTOWER_

Bruce stood in front of a vast, four way holoscreen monitor . Numbers and codes were displayed on the screen but one crucial component to solving the codex was missing and Bruce couldn't lay a finger on what the component of the mystery toxin was. Results of the analysis of the sample was displayed up on screen.

Just then, the partition door behind him slid open and Hal Jordan walked in, yawning.

Hal walked over and peered at the holoscreens with furrowed eyebrows for a few prolonged seconds.

"What's all these numbers for?", the green lantern inquired finally.

"It's the toxin sample that took control of the minds of Nightwing, Kidflash and a number of other Ukranian Soldiers from the Ivoria Barge. But something's off.", Bruce replied, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Half of the toxin is composed of a denitrogenous phosphate compound but the other half is an unknown on the periodic table. But..I've seen this chemical structure before. It has certain mystical properties to it.",Bruce replied.

"Um..I..can't tell if you're being serious or just testing my sanity ,bats. Mystical?",Hal asked , a little perplexed. It was a well known fact of that Hal Jordan wasn't a believer of magic and the mystical stuff even though he had met both Zatanna and John Constatine before.

"It's some chemical compound that has it's formula altered and re-formed. This compound seems to have mystical properties. The compound originates from somewhere near the Himalayan mountain ranges.",Bruce remarked, sounding a little engrossed.

"So...League of assassins?",Hal suggested.

"Not quite. The league would never use this chemical so carelessly. But the perpetrator _is_ someone who has knowledge of techniques that were employed by them. ",Bruce replied as he entered a coding onto the holographic keyboard.

Hal opened his mouth to continue the conversation but he was cut off when the emergency alert alarm rang out through the hall and in the room.

Then, Dinah's voice crackled in through the transmitter.

"Black Canary to Watchtower. I'm being attacked by some..kind of android. Requesting backup immediately. Sending coordinates.".

* * *

 _FEBRUARY 07 , 15:23 EDT - TITAN'S TOWER._

Garfield and Jaime were engaged in a game of car racing, clicking away madly at their controllers, seated in front of the television set . Raven sat on a nearby couch watching her two teammates engage each other with grins on their faces. Kori was showing M'gann one of her favorite baking shows on her tablet. Damian was doing his sword training in the newly built training facility two floors down and Kyle was sleeping in his room, having slept late due to his school homework.

M'gann and Kara had only been introduced to Bart Allen for over three days since he had returned to the titans tower after being discharged from the hall of justice.

Bart was a rather hyper energetic,fast talking, witty sixteen year old with a high aptitude for science. The fast talking speedster had long , soft chocolate brown hair that fell across his face, parting in the middle . He had bright green eyes that positively beamed with energy and he had light freckles that lined his cheeks and his upper nasal ridge. The guy was shorter than most of his teammates, but taller than Damian if you juxtaposed them .

When Kara first found out that Bart was Barry's grandson, she had a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact, to say the least. Both she had M'gann were evidently confused about the fact that the flash, who was yet to even have a child, had a teenaged grandson.

But when they were told that Bart had come from the future, breaking the time barrier, it made more sense to the both of them, though it was still pretty confusing. To sum it all up, Kara began to find speedsters and their abilities rather confusing and weird.

Ever since Bart had found out that he had two new teammates and one of them was able to travel at super speeds, he had been raring to race Kara just to see how fast she really was. The hot-headed blonde teenager had no problem in accepting the challenge. Hell, she was even faster than Clark was , mainly due to her superior agility and younger body. Bart was the first person who had truly challenged her in aspects of speed. Of course there was Barry Allen, but he had never really had the time to race her, having to deal with justice league stuff.

They had finally had the race , speeding across the landscapes nearby. Kara had been neck and neck with Bart of the first part of the race but on the second part, the fast talking speedster simply left her in his dust.

He was already sitting on the dining table, eating a banana by the time Kara had returned, a speeding blur herself.

The girl of steel now lay on the floor, her arms and legs spread out wide as she tried to cool off. Her sweatshirt was drenched completely as she lay there, panting from trying to keep up with the speedster.

Bart zipped forward, sitting down next to her as he took a bite out of the banana in his hand.

"You're fast ,babe. But not as fast as Moi.", Bart boasted arrogantly.

Kara blew her bangs off her face in frustration .

"Kara, why don't you go take a bath and change your clothes? It's bad manners to eat your lunch like this.", Kori called out from her spot as Kara got to her feet, using the hoodie on her sweatshirt to wipe her her hair as she walked out of the room.

* * *

As Kara re-entered the common room after having a long bath, she found all the titans huddled on the main couch with one lone figure, a male, standing in front of them with his back turned to Kara. Upon her entry into the room, all their heads turned to her and the lone male figure also turned around to face her.

Immediately she recognized who this man was. Dick Grayson. The Nightwing. The first robin and a member of the original teen titans.

He had his full layered black and grey body suit on but he wasn't wearing his mask. He had his long, jet black hair swept to his side and his dreamy, chocolate brown eyes were fixed on Kara's figure as she stared at him. His sharp jawline looked like it had been drawn onto his face.

He also had a mysterious air about him. Not like the brooding-mysterious that Kara associated with Bruce Wayne ,but a charming, playful mysterious and she liked it . She wanted to unravel his mysteries. She wasn't usually the one to get all flustered around a guy but this time around, she was trying hard to keep her inner thoughts to herself as she ran her eyes up and down his physique as he walked up to her with a charming smile on his face.

"Hi. You must be Kara. We've not formally met yet . I'm Dick Grayson. Thanks for getting us out of that tight spot back at the barge.", he introduced himself as she shook his hand with her wide yes fixed on his face.

"It was nothin. Um..I'm kara..", she blurted out involuntarily before she could stop herself. Her ration brain was numb and she was having a hard time just appearing cool.

"But...you already knew that! Heh-Heh.", she added with a chuckle, trying to play off her stupidness as a joke. Fortunately, he took it as such and smiled at her.

Dick returned to whatever he was talking about as Kara joined the others, sitting down next to M'gann, who had a cocked eyebrow raised at the blonde girl . She had noticed the slightly fidgety behavior her teammate was putting up.

"Normally, a Justice leaguer would be assigned as the supervisor for the mission but since all members of the league are currently occupied ,Batman has assigned me for this mission.", Dick remarked as he glanced around the room.

"Great..", Damian groaned audibly and Dick shot him a furtive glare.

"Anyways..", Dick continued on despite the disturbance from the current robin.

"Thirteen hours ago, an new unknown threat attacked Black Canary and Sargent Trevor.", Dick remarked as Kori opened the telescreen , displaying a paused video of a rather imposing looking robotic humanoid.

It had glowing red eyes, peach white skin, red military cropped hair and rather pointy shaped ears. It looked almost human, except for the part where it wore a robotic expression on it's face. It wore dark green gauntlets on it's muscular looking arms , and it wore no upper body clothing . It did , however seemed to have it's legs painted dark green to mimic the use of a pant.

"This android was seen to be capable of studying and replicating the abilities and powers of it's opponents. Canary called in reinforcements- Superman and the Flash, which proved to be disastrous. ", Dick continued on as he pressed playback.

Immediately, the video depicted the robotic taking on both Clark and Barry head on, mimicking the flash's speed and blasted them both with Dinah's canary cry before raining down punches on them with Clark's speed and strength.

"Whoa...One guy with the powers of Black canary, Superman and the flash?", Kyle whispered with a shocked look on his face.

"Not just them. We don't know how many more meta-human abilities it's studied up until this point. ", Dick added.

"How does an inanimate piece of circuitry and coding utilize physical powers of different leaguers? Statistically speaking, it sounds wack.", Bart chimed in, munching on a bag of chips.

"The league doesn't know the answer to that yet but they were finally able to subdue the android with Batman, Aquaman and the green lantern's help. ", Dick answered before he clicked on the remote in his hand yet again.

"As of right now, the android is offline and is under survielence in the S.T.A.R labs facility in Central city. ", Dick remarked.

"The league found out that the synthetic android was created by Anthony Ivo, a former S.T.A.R labs scientist who worked under Silas Stone, years ago. ", Dick continued on, switching to an image of a middle aged man with with a grotesque skin formation on his bald head and across the right side of his right eye had it's iris missing and could give you night mares if you look at it too long. His head and the right side of his face looked like it had been burnt off or something and he had a rather repulsive look about him.

"Urgh..What the hell happened to mister gorgeous over here?", Kyle barfed.

"Professor Ivo and Doctor Stone were performing a high risk experiment in unorthodox conditions . A Particle acceleration rector. The experiment did not go as planned and it ended up with Ivo unable to get a date ever since.", Dick joked, although the other titans were a little late on the uptake.

"Ivo had been connected to the H.I.V.E incident two years ago and we believes that he may have outside help .", Dick remarked , and immediately Garfield's hand shot up.

"What the heck is a Hive?",Kara inquired, a little confused. Dick glanced over at Kori and both exchanged tentative glances.

"Let's just say they're a bunch of crazys that we're glad don't exist no more.", Garfield replied solemnly.

" It was a covert cult group with a lot of connections and it was lead by a man calling himself 'Brother Blood'. After their leader was taken out, they disbanded, according to records. But the league has reason to believe that they may have some connection to the new string of attacks on report.", Dick clarified.

"Batman suspects that Ivo will try and make contact with the android tonight. Ivo also blames Doctor Stone for his deformed face. This mission is strictly a stake out.", Kori replied.

" M'gann, Kara, Gar, Kyle. You're coming with me to the S.T.A.R labs will be keeping guard over the synthetic android. ", Dick remarked.

"Raven, Damian,Jaime and Bart. You'll be going with Kori to the Orion labs facility. Your squad is tasked with protecting Doctor Stone at all costs. Suit up.", Dick remarked .

* * *

 _FEBRUARY 07 , 20: 34 EDT - S.T.A.R Labs, Central City._

M'gann walked quietly, her hood drawn up , patrolling near the east sector of the star labs compound. Garfield sat on top of the terrace of the accounts building, morphed into a green feathered,bald eagle, his keen eyesight scouring the empty landscape for unwanted movements.

Kyle, Kara and Dick were stationed in the isolated detention ward of the star labs facility, guarding the synthetic android that was being kept under ice in a rectangular containment unit planted right in the center of the ward .

Dick walked over and squinted his eyes, peering through the single glassy window in the room, which overlooked the eastern sector of the compound . His line of vision soon landed on the dark hooded figure of M'gann silently patrolling the compound.

"Any movements?", Dick whispered into his comms unit, softly tapping his earpiece to check if it was functional.

" _No. Compound is clear.",_ M'gann's voice buzzed out of their receiver.

" _Beast boy to Nightwing. Skies are clear too.",_ Garfield reported in after M'gann.

"Good work, guys. But stay alert. Ivo has to strike any one of the facilities but he can only hit one of us at a time without giving himself away. We have to be prepared in case it's us he targets.", Dick replied .

He let out a small sigh and walking over to Kara and Kyle, who were apprehensively eyeing the android in the containment cell.

"Kinda freaky lookin , isn't he?", Dick whispered, trying to break the tension.

"Yeah. So..this thing has the powers of Superman, The flash and the Black canary?", Kyle inquired, crossing his arms across his chest.

"And a bunch of other meta-humans , yeah.", Dick nodded, placing his hands on his hips. He noticed the slightly tentative expression on the faces of his younger teammates and chuckled lightly.

"Hey. Guys, relax. If anyone should be scared, it's me. That thing has the powers of multiple Justice leaguers and all I got is a few gadgets and two electrical batons. ", Dick teased them slightly.

"Hey! Who told you I was scared?!", Kyle huffed, defending himself.

"Sure ,sure. I believe you.", Dick chuckled with a playful smirk.

"So, Anyway. I saw the clip you showed us. Even batman was wearing his tactical armor to take on this thing. How come you're here in you tights and mask?", Kyle retorted, trying to divert the topic.

"Henh.", Dick chuckled lightly . "Yeah? Well that's why he's batman and I'm Nightwing."

"I've never really liked his penchant for tactical armors. I've always preferred body suits.. Something with a little less baggage. I like freedom of movement.", Dick replied.

"Yeah.", Kara interjected , sounding a little dreamy. "This look totally works for you..."

Both males turned around to find her staring at Dick with her eyelids halfway shut and a dreamy smile on her face, running her eyes up and down Dick's body. Noticing that the other two had noticed her , she instantly snapped out of her daydream and shook her head.

"Uhm.. I mean..You could probably do good work in that suit!", she said rather hurriedly before giving Dick a thumbs up and a toothy grin as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'll.. just go patrol the corridors.", she replied without looking at them as she turned away with heated cheeks . She was too self-conscious to notice Kyle stifling his laughter.

Seeing the teenaged lantern snickering, Dick folded his arms across his chest.

"Is there any inside joke I'm missing out on?", heasked, not noticing Kara's obvious actions.

"Nothing. Nothing. Just a funny video I watched earlier came to mind.", Kyle lied, making a mental note to bring up the topic of Kara's crush on Dick later on.

/

 _20:45 EDT -ORION LABS, Central City_

"I have a psychotic maniac who's blaming me for a laboratory accident and all I get as protection are five teenagers?", Silas Stone complained .

"To be honest, you should count yourself lucky that you have anyone as your protection. Juxtaposing you next to the synthetic android the league recovered, you are of lesser value.", Damian replied coldly before Kori shot him an angry glare.

"What?", Damian scoffed, shrugging at her. Kori let out a sigh.

"We're sorry but the rest of the league is otherwise occupied as of right now. We are all that is available and I assure you that we will protect you, should it come to it.", Kori replied calmly with an apologetic expression.

"So even my son couldn't volunteer to protect me?", Doctor Stone sighed, pinching his nose ridge.

"Oh yeah!", Bart barged into the conversation, munching on his protein bar.

"Cyborg had it the worst out of the three of us. Me and Nightwing were put under that weird toxin thingy but we don't know what those guys did to him. Somthin real bad, I'm guessing. ", Bart replied nonchalantly, leaning up against the metal door.

Kori sighed as Doctor Stone gave the speedster and detestful glare.

"Kid-flash. Why don't you go patrol the corridors? Keep a look out. Me and Damian will keep a watch over Doctor Stone. ", Kori said with a tired expression.

"Roger-Roger.", Bart simply stated with a grin before he zipped out of the computer lab . Damian sat on the floor, his right hand gripped around his electrical Bo staff, glaring straight at the doctor.

"I wonder how Dick and the others are doing.", Kori whispered apprehensively as she walked over towards Damian, who snorted.

"Oh, please. They have a green lantern, a Kryptonian and a green martian on their squad. Face it, Starfire. We're the B-team right now. We get stuck keeping guard over a less than thankful doctor who wasn't even an agreeable father to Cyborg.", Damian replied in one breath.

"Damian! There's no A or B team here. We're all just trying to get our missions done correctly. Dick and the others are focusing on their task and we should do the same. And how did you know all this information about doctor Stone?", Kori hissed.

"I never go into a mission without being prepared beforehand. I did my research. Plus, Cyborg has been pretty vocal about how his father isn't the perfect role model.", Damian replied coolly.

"Well, Damian,we're all teammates here. You should have filled us in on this information. ", Kori replied reproachfully.

"That would have been an inefficient wastage of time. ", Damian simply huffed before getting up and walking out of the door, swinging and placing his staff over his shoulder.

"I couldn't get the Justice league..", Doctor Stone cursed under his breath from his place on the chair, in front of the computer systems that were hacked into the security cameras on the building.

Kori let out a defeated sigh and slid down to the floor , resting her forehead on her knees. She had hoped this would be a good team-building exercise. So far, all that had happened was Doctor Stone and Damian's cribbing. She wondered how Dick's squad was faring.

Unbeknownst to the titans, three assassins in sleek,similar black masks with slits for eyes was watching their every move, hidden from sight in the shadows of the night.

/

Kara landed softly on the rooftop and blinked, switching to her X-ray vision, slowly turning her head , scanning the landscape nearby. The huge compound was still vacant. She picked up a heat signature on the ground floor that was M'gann's.

Silently, the girl of steel leapt up and hovered down to the side of her martian teammate.

M'gann smiled as she sensed Kara approaching her.

"Aren't you supposed to be with Kyle and Dick keeping watch over the android?", the green skinned martian inquired with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah..", Kara mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Things got a little awkward..So I decided I needed some fresh air.", Kara muttered with a sheepish chuckle.

"I agree. Being around the one you have feelings for must be pretty awkward.", M'gann stated nonchalantly, catching Kara off guard.

"Yeah. I-no- what?!", Kara scoffed, her eyes wide .

"Relax!", M'gann chuckled, "I don't think anyone else is onto you but I could sense your emotions back at the tower. ", M'gann replied.

"Damn it. Am I that obvious?", Kara asked nervously. She was seriously inexperienced in the romance department and it was the first time she had a crush on an actual person she could talk to. Her previous crushes had included movie actors and teenaged boyband singers.

"I don't think Dick Grayson knows about it, if that's what you mean.", M'gann replied with a small shrug.

"Yeah... I almost gave myself away back there.", Kara sighed and both girls began to chuckle as they walked together.

Unbeknownst to the two girls, an eagle with distinct green feathers lay motionless on the rooftop , behind his attacker on the terrace, his legs and wings tied up in a blood red adhesive substance that looked like giant spider webs.

"I'm in position.", the assassin whispered coarsely into his transmitter.

" _Perfect. Sending in the asset for phase two."_ , a dismembered voice wheezed out of the other end of the receiver.

"Copy.", the masked assassin replied before switching to his infrared vision , scouting out the targets.

/

Back at the Orion labs facility, Bart was walking down the fifth detention level corridor, munching on his third protein bar, much to Jaime's annoyance.

"Dude. Could you last one second without stuffing your mouth with food all the time?!", the blue beetle huffed .

"Sorry Bro. My metabolism runs at least forty times faster than everybody else, excluding my granddad and my great-uncle. So I gotta keep eating to keep my body sustained at all times. Plus , it's a habit now.", Bart added with a shrug as he took another bite.

Just then, something caught the attention of both the teen titans . A suspicious shadow moving along the floors. Bart and Jaime exchanged glances.

"Race ya!", the speedster remarked and before Jaime could stop him, Bart was already zipping forward , following the rapidly moving shadow.

"Whoa. You're fast ain't ya? Let's see how fast!", Bart exclaimed, exhilarated and increased his speed, turning round a bend.

Out of nowhere, a pale white arm shout out of the shadows and landed a solid blow on the speedster's face, knocking him out instantly.

Jaime sped after his teammate, picking up his heat signature and finally rounded a bend where the signature seemingly vanished all of a sudden.

"Um..", Jaime muttered, glancing around, a little confused about what to do next.

Then, all of a sudden, he was hit with a magnetic field from behind him, striking his scarab head on and intense pain surged through his body, forcing the blue beetle onto his knees as he clutched at his head, yelling in pain. He felt his eyesight dimming and soon enough, he dropped down onto the floor, an unmoving heap.

As soon as the blue beetle was rendered unconscious, his attacker walked out of the shadows. Well, hovered out of the shadows anyway.

"That was not as hard as we were told.", Gizmo snorted as he locked up his magnetic propulsor.

"Did you block out the sound from reaching the other titans?", another assassin, the tallest in the group, muttered with a raspy voice. Shewas a woman with jet black shoulder length hair with a black mask over her face. She wore a silky corset that was buttoned upto her throat with the ends of her top dangling in her front and over her rear, exposing her skin at the leg area ,which had a strap fastened onto it, containing knives and other contraptions belted in.

"You question too much.", Jinx chided as she withdrew her sound proofing energy field from around them.

The assassin lightly touched her earpiece.

"The speedster and the beetle have been subdued.", she whispered into her earpiece .

" _Fantastic. Move in towards the detention labobratories on the level below you. Stone is holed up in there with two titans keeping watch._ ", a voice crackled out of the receiver .

"A job well done thanks to my tech!", Gizmo boasted proudly.

"Oh, shut up. Your _tech_ would've given away our position if I didn't put up a sound field around us. ", Jinx chided back, blowing her pink bangs off her face as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Barking dogs seldom bite.", Gizmo replied nonchalantly as he loaded his disarmer .

Jinx growled and lit up her palms in pink circular energy.

"You want me to fry that big head of yours?!", she almost yelled as the older assassin strode past between them, ignoring their chatter.

"Both of you shut up and follow orders or you both lose your heads.", she simply stated, leaving the two teenagers with dumbfounded expressions.

/

Damian stood in the main corridor , pacing back and forth outside the door that housed Doctor Stone. He could feel an unpleasant sensation building up inside him as the minutes went by, his frustration growing.

Just then, he thought he heard a footstep towards his right and he squinted his eyes, trying to find the source. Then, out of the shadows, three shurikens shot out of the dark corridor straight at Damian, who's eyes widened in shock as he ducked and flipped out of the way. He managed to dodge two of the shurikens but the third one caught him, slicing off his leg, grazing his skin.

"Damn it.", the fifteen year old cursed as he dropped a smoke pellet , ducking into the shadows.

"Robin to team. I've made contact. Enemy is here on the fifth detention level. Ivo 's after Doctor Stone, not the android. ", Damian growled into his earpiece .

" _Nightwing to Robin. On our way!_ ", Dick's voice came out of his receiver. Jinx and Gizmo flew past Damian , as the latter opened sonic blasts at the robin, forcing him to run around, dodging the attack. Damian cursed and took aim at Gizmo's jet pack, shooting an EMP disk at it just in time to fry the device whole, sending the bald boy genius shooting to the floor as smoke trailed out of his pack.

"YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES FOR ME TO BUILD THAT THING!?", Gizmo yelled in a maddened voice as he began firing shots at Damian .

"Not as long as it'll take for me to shut up your insufferable mouth.", Damian retorted as he parried the shots, rotating his Bo staff in front of him like a helicopter blade .

"Blue, Flash, we are taking fire. We need assistance . Do you copy?!", Kori yelled into her earpiece as she put up a purple forcefield around her and the cowering Doctor Stone. But both Jaime and Bart were unresponsive. Kori was taking successive energy shots from Jinx , who was hurling pink energy disks at her force field with a smirk on her face.

Outside, Raven's eyes shot wide open as she let out a small gasp of shock at the sudden attack. How had they breached her defenses? She had put up a motion field around the facility. Raven rocketed back towards the others, phasing straight through the building walls as she flew towards the computer labs where the fight was taking place.

/

Kara and M'gann had just received the M.O from Dick about the attack on Orion Labs. So apparently Professor Ivo was after Doctor Stone then, not his synthetic android. As M'gann was confirming their immediate departure to assist their teammates in Orion Labs, Kara sensed a disturbance somewhere nearby. She could feel the ground beneath her feet vibrating enthusiastically . She squinted her eyes and switched to infrared vision. Immediately, what she saw shot her eyes wide open in shock.A seven foot tall body mass exuding heat energy was bolting in their direction at incredible speeds and not a second later, it leapt up into the air. Kara didn't need her X-ray vision to see it anymore. It's silhouette was clear in the night sky as it rocketed towards her and M'gann, who only became aware of the attacker's presence a little too late.

Instantly, Kara caught a hold of M'gann's arm and hurled her out of harm's way as the blonde girl took the full force of the Mammoth's charge. The massive metahuman sent her crashing straight into the concrete building wall behind her. She vanished from view behind a thick cloud of dust and smoke.

As M'gann gathered herself back up, shaking her head out of her stupor, she felt the ground beneath her shake and she looked up to see the figure of a coarse, grey skinned behemoth of a creature with flaming red hair raise it's fists . All she could do was put up an invisible force field in front of her as Mammoth brought down his hands onto her.

The concussive shock of Mammoth's punch on her force field blasted both of them backwards, crashing back into the ground.

"Damn it! Ivo's attacking both facilities simultaneously. We knew he'd have help. But not this much. We weren't prepared. I'm sorry, Starfire ,but we've got our hands full . There's some...creature outside taking on Supergirl and Miss Martian. We don't know where Ivo actually is or if he's even here.", Dick cursed as he saw the battle outside from his window pane.

Outside, from his vantage point, the assassin in the spider themed body suit watched on as Kara shot out of the debris and engaged Mammoth head on.

"They've taken the bait.",he whispered into his comms unit.

" _Understood. Move in to phase three. Unlock the security systems._ ", the voice droned in from the unit.

/

Back at the Orion Labs facility, Jinx was now on the backfoot. Raven's arrival had changed the duel into a two on one barrage and the pink haired teenaged girl was now left to conjure up a translucent forcefield around her as Raven charged on. Kori stood next to Silas Stone, who bore an unimpressed expression on his face.

"This is your example of good teamwork? Next time, I'd rather enlist the help of the Central City Police department than the Justice league if they keep sending kids to do their assignments.", Doctor Stone complained and this finally pushed Kori over her patience level.

"Doctor ,If you don't stay quiet and let us do our job, you are more than welcome to take on three superpowered assassins on your own. This team is all you have right now and we're doing all we can to ensure your safety.", Kori hissed with a cross expression on her face, taking the irritable doctor by surprise before the red haired titan let out a sigh and turned back .

In the janitor's closet almost three floors down, Bart had finally came to his senses and was slightly disturbed to wake up in a dark, clammy closet with a wet mop stick leaning onto his face. His hands and legs were restrained in metal cuffs as well.

"This is so not crash.", the sixteen year old cursed through gritted teeth as he tried to move around. Just then, he heard someone groan next to him.

Moving around in the cramped space, he found the blue beetle lying unconscious at his feet.

"Dude! Blue! Wake up!", Bart hissed as he kicked at his teammate.

Slowly, the blue beetle came to and pushed himself up, looking slightly groggy from the after effects of the attack. His beetle armor was still wrapped around his body, excluding his face, which was glistening with sweat.

"Oooh. I don't feel so good, Hermano.", the seventeen year old mumbled , feeling a little dizzy.

Just then, they heard gunshots outside.

" There seems to be some sort of attack going on outside! That is so lit! Come on!", Bart exclaimed excitedly and before Jaime could ask how he was planning on getting out, the speedster began to vibrate at a tremendous speed, turning into a blur as he vibrated his body back and forth. Then, he shot his body forward straight at the metallic door.

The next second, Bart had completely phased himself through the front door of the closet.

Once on the other side, Bart vibrated the metal restraints off of him and then stretched out his back, arching forward as he heard Jaime arming himself from within the closet. The fast talking speedster managed to zip out of the way just in time as the blue beetle freed himself with a sonic blast of his own.

"Come on dude! We're missin out on the fun!", Bart exclaimed and zipped out of view in a crimson blur.

"Compañero loco ...", Jaime sighed as he made to follow his teammate.

/

Damian dropped a smoke pellet , creating a smoke screen around him , blocking him out of view as Gizmo panicked and began raining down plasma blasts at the teen titan.

"Just what I thought! Coward! Running and hiding in your little smokey stuff! It aint gonna work on me, bird brain! I've got heat detectors. ", Gizmo boasted and switched on the heat detector in time to find Damian's heat signature directly behind him. Before Gizmo could react, the fifteen year old swung his Bo staff, whacking the hive agent head on, sending him crashing back into the wall behind .

"Son of a -", Gizmo cursed as he got back up and picked up his blaster. Just then, a crimson blur whizzed past him , emerging out of the green smoke.

"I'll take that.", the blur stated nonchalantly as if swerved around and behind Gizmo before vanishing back into the smoke. When Gizmo looked down at his hands, he found it empty. He tried to reach back into his armor unit and found that it was not on his back anymore.

"WHAT THE-", the ten year old kid yelled in annoyance and before he could do anything more, Damian's figure re-appeared out of the smoke , flying at him form an elevated surface with his leg out in front of him. Before Gizmo could react, Damian's heel met with Gizmo's chin and he was knocked out instantly.

As the smoke cleared, Bart reappeared with a grin on his face,holding Gizmo's gadgets, with Jaime trailing close by.

"I could've handled him on my own. ", Damian simply stated as he proceeded to tie up Gizmo.

Zipping past Damian, Bart snatched the restraint cord out of his hands and tied up Gizmo himself , all in the blink of an eye.

Seeing what he had done, Damian scowled at Bart.

"Show off.", the fifteen year old Robin simply stated as Bart smirked.

"You know you love me." Bart snickered at Damian's annoyance.

/

Back at the star labs facility, Kara was engaged in a destructive brawl with Mammoth and this time, he did look even more imposing than before. His skin felt a lot more rocky and coarse to the touch and you could feel his throbbing muscles underneath his skin. His rather sharp teeth were bared and his pupils were dilated so much that you couldn't see the white in his eyes anymore.

"Is it just me?", Kara inquired as she shot forward and landed a solid punch on his chest that sent him screeching back along the derelict concrete compound floor.

"Or have been on the juice lately?", Kara continued on as she flew towards him with fists raised. This time, he caught her by surprise by moving swiftly out of the way, catching a hold of her cape and swinging her parallel to the ground, sending her crashing into a wall nearby.

Up from their room, Kyle was getting rather impatient,being forced to keep watch over an inanimate android while Kara and M'gann were taking on Mammoth and another assassin down below.

"We should be down there, helping them,Nightwing.", Kyle replied through gritted teeth as he watched Kara being hurled across the concrete.

"Believe me, Kid. It's what I wanna do as well right now but our roles are clear. You and I need to stay put and keep a watch here in case Ivo or somebody else shows up. ", Dick replied with a sigh .He knew the feeling. The feeling of wanting to help when he could. But he couldn't because it was not his place. Because he had another role to play. It was one of the things that made him not want to be 'The Batman' anymore. He couldn't foresake something just for the cause of finishing a mission.

Kyle growled and looked out the window to find Kara locked in battle with Mammoth . He looked a lot bigger and bulkier than their previous encounter where he had been no match for Kara. And M'gann tired to help but she had her own assassin to deal with now, a woman in a black mask who was flipping around, sending burst of wind at her. A meta-human.

Kara's hand was twisted out behind her and Mammoth was pressing her face into the concrete with his free hand. He seemed a lot stronger than before and Kara couldn't just punch him head on. She had to use her agility and try to combine it with her strength.

Mustering some strength, Kara slipped her hand out from the mammoth's grip, caught a hold of his skin and hurled the shocked behemoth over a few feet away, roaring as she did so.

"I've been needing the exercise. ", Kara smirked as she cracked her knuckles and began to fly forward. Just then, she heard the distinct chink of a chain and before she knew what was happening, a heavy, dense metal chain swung forward and wrapped around her entire torso.

Then, with a strong tug, she was yanked down in her moment of shock. Kara twisted in her spot to find a very unfriendly looking blonde man wearing his long hair in a pony tail. He had pale white skin and one eye gone blind as he sneered through his five-O clock shadow of a beard. He did not have a right hand and instead of it, he had a large, metallic contraption out of which his metal chain shot was wearing a black, leathery biker jacket with blue jeans. He looked like he hadn't taken a bath in a while.

Kara smirked as the man continued to sneer at her. She then burst forward from her spot straight at him, broke out of her chains , caught a hold of him by his leg and hurled him straight through a glass paned window nearby on one of the buildings. She then turned back , only to have Mammoth standing right behind her with his beady eyes glaring. Before she could react, he clamped his palm around her throat, and began crushing it, forcing her to choke.

Kara was in shock. This guy was definitely on something. Before he couldn't even lay a hand on her and now here he was, able to strangle her.

Kyle rolled his hand into a fist and grit his teeth. He couldn't stand it anymore. Before Dick knew what was happening, the green lantern flew straight out of the room, back through the door .

"KYLE! NO! IT'S WHAT THEY WANT! IT'S JUST A DISTRACTION!", Dick tried calling back but to no avail. The teenaged lantern was already gone.

"Wonderful chain of command you've got here.", a drauling voice replied from behind Dick.

Instantly, the twenty-four year old whipped around to find a man in a jet black body suit watching him with yellowish, bug-like eyes . This man was eyeing him from the ceiling, with his fingers and shoe soles planted firmly on the ceiling wall, his limbs stuck out to his sides like an arachnid.

"Damn it, Kyle.",Dick cursed through his teeth as he drew out his electric batons.

/

Doctor Stone was busy watching Raven, Kori and Jinx duel it out in front of him that he did not notice the ventilation shaft on the ceiling getting unhinged, being hauled inwards silently.

Hanging upside down, the masked female assassin (that had taken out Bart and Jaime with Jinx and Gizmo earlier) held up a metallic tube (the length of one's forearm) to the mouth slit on her black mask and inserted a razor edged poison dart, aiming it straight at the neck of the unattentive doctor Stone, who was busy watching the duel in front of him.

Without making a single noise, the woman rapidly blew out into the tube with force, shooting the poison dart straight at the doctor at the speed of sound. Just then, a crimson blur moved in straight into the path of the dart and grabbed it straight out of the air and pulled the woman out of her vantage point, sending her crashing down to the floor, all in the blink of an eye .

The female assassin was in for a shock when she lost her footing all of a sudden and found herself falling back down to the floor. She instinctively flung her arms out over her shoulder and caught her fall, rolling forwards and standing back the fall, her mask fell off her face, revealing herself to the titans.

Immediately, Kori and Silas Stone noticed the disturbance behind them and whipped around to find the black masked woman behind them with a metallic dart tube at her feet. In the sudden confusion, Raven got distracted and in that moment of confusion, Jinx seized the opportunity and created a portal through which she escaped.

As everybody's attention snapped back to the masked woman, Bart chuckled.

"You know. Sneak attacks are not crash, babe. Not crash at all.", Bart simply stated, smirking at the masked assassin as he leaned nonchalantly against a wall nearby, as if this was everyday business. He held the dart in his hand, eyeing it curiously.

Just then, Jaime and Damian came through the doorway.A shocked look of recognition came across Damian's face as his eyes landed on the female assassin's face. Her silky black hair was combed across her head,from left to right, falling just to her shoulders . She had a square jawline and a shot, button nose. Her sharp, keen eyes and facial features were set.

"Shiva.", Damian simply stated as he recognized the woman. But what was her deal with all this?

"This is getting interesting.", the woman said with a sultry voice and a smirk.

Then, before anyone could react, she hurled a razor edged dagger at the doctor, only to have it blocked by Kori with an energy shield.

"Maybe a little too interesting.", the woman said and dropped a metallic orb to the floor and it instantly released a smoke screen, vanishing into it.

Bart instantly shot forward and tried to catch the perpetrator, only to zoom straight through the smoke screen and crash into the wall nearby.

"She's..gone..", Kori stated, a little unsurely.

"Well...We got our guy.", Jaime replied, bringing out an unconscious and restrained Gizmo in the rear.

"Well..I guess we should alert the others of our status.", Kori replied with a sigh to relax herself.

"Starfire to Nightwing. Doctor Stone is safe. We are clear.", Kori remarked, lightly touching her earpiece.

/

Back at Star labs, Dick was ducking around the blood red webbing the spider assassin was shooting at him, trying to get a good angle on the guy to hurl his baton _._

"We are NOT clear! We are VERY NOT CLEAR!", Dick yelled , albeit evidently irritated.

The spider assassin leapt onto the ceiling and modified his web shooters, shooting web darts at Dick, who was forced to duck behind an upturned metal table.

"Goddamn it.", Dick cursed as he drew out a flash grenade and hurled it overhead.

Once he heard the grenade go off, he leapt out of his hiding place and moved into a new area in the wide circular room, staying as silent as possible.

"I see you still keep to the way the dark knight taught you, brat wonder.", the spider assassin hissed as he tried to glanced around, unable to find Dick.

"Maybe you won't give yourself away, Nightwing. But your body heat is bound to betray you.", the assassin replied with a raspy voice as he switched his bug-like eyes to infrared vision. Once switched on, he glanced around , only to find no heat trace anywhere in the room. Dick's body heat was not picked up.

Unseen by the assassin, Dick had a lightly glowing tube clenched in his mouth, between his teeth . The device was a prototype and it's purpose was to send an ice cold shock through the user's body, to mask their body heat. So far, it seemed to be working even though Dick felt as if he had been plunged into icy cold water.

"You know, in the South American forests, Spiders are known to prey on birds.", the spider assassin hissed tauntingly as he glanced around from his vantage point on the ceiling.

Just then, from a point behind the assassin, one of Dick's electrical batons shot at the assassin's head, catching him off guard. The baton's end struck the man straight on his right temple, sending a mild electrical pulse through his brain to disorient him and send him crashing to the floor.

As the man got to his feet, a shocked gasp elicited from his mask as he took notice of Dick charging at him head on with his hands raised to shoulder level, Batons held. Before the assassin could do anything, Dick was pummeling him with blows with his batons across the ribs before flipping over the man's figure entirely and landing a solid heeled kick on the man's back, sending him forward, onto the floor.

With a grin on his face, Dick twirled the batons and slipped them back into their catch on the slots on the back of his suit.

"Well, big guy. I think the bird just beat the spider this time.", Dick chided victoriously.

The spider assassin, lay there, rubbing his head, his bug-like eyes fixated on Dick.

"Don't get so cocky. While you've been dueling me, I am nothing but the side dish. A distraction.", the man replied through his mask.

"What?", Dick retorted, not understanding what the man meant. Then, with a shocked expression, he put two and two together and he whipped around to find the synthetic android's eyes lighting up crimson. It was online.

"Oh shit..", Dick cursed as he rushed to the containment control panel to try and increase the ice in the unit. As he rushed forth, he heard the squishy sound of the assassin shooting his webbing and a second later, Dick was caught in it, tangled in it, pressed against the wall in the dark red cobwebs.

"Well. Looks like the spider caught the bird after all.", a slightly nasal voice spoke out from behind the corridor.

A second later, the door swung open and the sneering, mangled face of Professor Ivo came into view, wearing a creamy white coat buttoned upto his throat . His charred appearance hadn't changed much since his last known visual . He eyed Dick scornfully with his one good eye as he walked into the room. He was carrying a transparent tablet in his hand which seemed to be running rapid numbers on the screen. Upon seeing the man, Dick writhed around in the maroon webs, trying to free himself.

"Oh, don't fret, Nightwing. That web has a tensile strength to withstand a falling building. And it's adhesiveness has no comparison. Struggling to free from that is just as futile as you trying to stay out of our way. ", the professor sneered and this caught Dick's attention.

"Our? Who're you working with", Dick yelled, sounding flabbergasted as he cautiously shifted his hand behind him, switching on the comms to the batcave for Bruce to hear. He had to delay Ivo until further notice.

"Oh, don't you know? I have a lot of friends , powerful friends. Influential men who have the same interests as mine. And you know what they say. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.", Ivo boasted .

"All rotten eggs in one basket eh?" Dick snorted. As he looked on, Bruce's voice crackled in through his earpiece.

" _Keep him busy. Do not let the android get loose.I'm sending a squad to your location._ ", Bruce replied before the line went silent.

As Dick watched on, Ivo proceeded to tap some codes onto his tablet with an amused look on his face before he walked in closer, five inches from Dick's own face.

"I see you've met my beautiful creation, yes? Able to copy and duplicate the powers of any meta-human I desire it to?", Ivo boasted as Dick shifted his face away with a repulsed expression.

"Dude. When was the last time you had a shower? How'd you expect to get a date smelling like this?", he taunted.

"Hmm. Laugh and quip all you want, brat. After the smoke clears, we'll see who will be having the last laugh. You kids, or my Amazing Amazo?", Ivo sneered and as Dick watched, the ground rumbled and a second later, the containment unit burst open, sending ice and metal debris everywhere .

As the smoke cleared, the synthetic android stood back upright , standing tall as it shifted it's focus to Dick, who was stuck to the wall with the red webbing around him.

"Amazo. Finish him. Priority Alpha.", Ivo stated with a sneer.

"Well I guess this is what Bruce meant by not getting into sticky situations.", Dick mumbled under his breath, struggling against the sticky webbing as the Amazo droid advanced in his direction.

" _Access Black Canary."_ , the android stated as it opened it's jaw hatch.

/

Kyle, Kara and M'gann were engaged on the compound, dueling their own opponents. Kara was moving at the speed of sound, landing punches on Mammoth wherever she could, Kyle was taking on the repugnant guy with the wacky chain appendage and M'gann was taking on the other masked assassin who was moving in an almost cat-like manner, dodging the martian's attacks and shooting back gusts of volatile wind.

Just then, a resounding boom echoed through the area and everyone stopped fighting to see Nightwing being blasted out of the building, tangled up in red cobwebs. A rather irritating, screeching noise that sounded like Black Canary's Canary Cry followed him out and forced the others to cover their ears in pain. Dick crashed down into the concrete ground, groaning with a disoriented expression on his face.

"What the hell happened?!", Kyle yelled as he wriggled his index finger in his ear, trying to rid the ringing sensation from his ears.

As an answer,something large and imposing dropped down from the giant hole in the star labs building, sending up dust as it made contact with the ground. It stood tall and it's glowing red eyes surveyed the scene.

"Amazo. Dispatch our guests with extreme prejudice.", a nasal voice wheezed out from the building and no sooner had the order came, the android began to move forward, fixing it's sights on the groaning form of Dick Grayson, who was still tied up in the webbing, disoriented .

" _Access Superman.",_ a robotic voice echoed and a second later, the android shot crimson beams of energy from it's eyes straight at Dick. As everyone stood watching, at the last second, Kyle came in between dick and the heat vision, constructing a strong force field to parry the red beams.

"What kinda frankenstien is this thing!?", the teenaged lantern grunted through gritted teeth as he held up the forcefield long enough for Kara to fly Dick safely out of harms way.

" _Access Flash.",_ the droid suddenly remarked and before anyone could move, the android was bolting straight at Kyle with the speed of the flash.

"Oh,crap.", Kyle mumbled in dismay as he saw the thing coming at him. The android shot straight through Kyle's construct , shattering it to pieces before landing a solid blow on the teenaged lantern, sending him flying back a few feet away.

"You need to stop!", M'gann yelled and flew in between Kyle and the android as it advanced toward him. That was a mistake. She had powers the android did not possess yet. It's eyes lit up pure white and it stood stock still, staring at M'gann.

" _Scan complete. Access Miss Martian.",_ the android remarked and M'gann stood in shock as the android's arm stretched out like a long rubber band, elongated and then grabbed her by the throat before hurling her at the building.

"Normally, I'd just leave Amazo to it. But this is just too good to miss.", Ivo cackled from his spot.

"Damn it.", Kara cursed and shot towards the android, her fists clenched. She flew straight at it, grabbed it by the torso and took it with her, flying straight through the building wall, hoping to do some damage.

" _Access Superman.",_ the android simply remarked and before Kara could react, the robot grabbed her by her hair and yanked her painfully off course, forcing her to cry in pain. Once he was in control, he spun on the spot at super speed , forming a mini tornado before releasing his grip on her, sending her flying straight up through the building, leaving gaping holes on each of the floors as she shot through them.

"I HATE ROBOTS!", Kyle roared as he flew straight through the building at Amazo with an emerald bower blasts constructed on his right arm. Once in sight, the teenaged lantern began firing at will, keeping Amazo on the backfoot while she gained distance. Once in a close enough range, he morphed his blaster into a giant fist that he swung around and punched at the android, sending it crashing out of view.

Kyle gave chase and he flew in , pursuing the android towards where it crashed. A crater had formed at the impact site but when the green lantern got there, the android was nowhere to be found.

"You know, Kid lantern. You re becoming a real pain .", he heard a nasal voice wheeze. Whipping around, he found Amazo floating four feet above ground level watching the lantern as professor Ivo stood behind the android, watching through a window with a smirk on his face.

" _Access Flash."_ , the android droned and it immediately dropped to the floor, cracking the concrete on impact before it bolted forwards at the speed of sound and began raining down punches on the teenaged lantern before it hauled him up overhead by his torso and sent him flying out of view back into the compound area.

"Hey METAL HEAD!", a female voice roared and the android turned around to find Kara shooting at him with her eyes glowing red.

Amazo managed to zip out of harms way just in time before the heat vision reached it.

" _Access Black Canary."_ , it remarked and it opened it's mouth to shoot out a high energy sound wave that caught Kara head on, causing immense pain to her ears as she crashed to the ground.

" _Access Superman.",_ it remarked . In the blink of an eye, the android shot towards Kara and began raining down punches on her, forcing her to cower as she took on the full blow of Superman's strength.

The android then caught her by her leg and yanked her skyward, sending her crashing through the terrace of the building, landing with a cloud of dust onto the other end of the compound in a crater.

As Kara groaned, getting to her feet, the sound of concrete being destroyed echoed through the grounds and her eyes flitted open just in time to see the Amazo android flying straight at her. Instinctively, she blew outwards at the android with all her strength, hoping to use her freeze breath on the android.

But unfortunately, no such ability displayed , not even super breath. The android was still flying in her direction. In a moment of panic, Kara leapt out of the way just in time as the Amazo crashed exactly where she had been lying just mere milliseconds before.

"Well. I guess I found out what Kryptonian abilities I don't have.", Kara muttered , panting in her spot .

"Amazo. I've always wanted to test a Kryptonian's abilities. But.. since Superman isn't available now, We'll have to settle for this one...Finish her.", Ivo's voice crackled out of the command unit on Amazo's control capacitor.

" _Access Flash. ",_ the android remarked and it shot towards Kara, catching her off guard . It then began raining down punches on her before yanking her by her hair and throwing her off a few feet away.

Just then, Dick , who was now back up on his feet, threw one of his batons at Amazo, only to have the android use Flash's ability and vibrate rapidly, allowing Dick's weapon to completely phase through amazon's synthetic body.

"Holy crap.", Dick muttered .

" _Access Superman.",_ the android droned and it's eyes lit up a bright red as it took aim at Dick. Just then, from behind, Kara shot at Amazo and wrapped her arms around it's neck and began yanking it off target . The android began trying to claw at Kara without avail as she held onto it's back with all her strength.

" _Access Miss martian.",_ the android droned and before Kara knew what was happening, the android rotated it's body a full three-hundred-sixty degrees .

" _Access Superman."_ , the android droned and it's eyes began to glow red.

"Sonava-.", Kara muttered as she let go of Amazo and turned to fly away. A second later, she was shot squarely in the spine area with heat vision, sending her crashing forward with smoke trailing off her.

Amazo then zipped forward, grabbed Kara by her head, with it's palm over her forehead and eyes. It then hauled her up and began ramming her whole body repititively against the ground with extreme force until the ground began to crack open due to the force. It then dropped her to the ground at it's feet.

Kara lay there,groaning as Amazo's figure stood over her imposingly.

"Amazo. Dispose of the girl. She's not as fun as I'd hoped.", Ivo's voice crackled out of the control capacitor.

Amazo's eyes began to glow red on command just as a male voice roared behind the android.

"I've had it with robots!", Kyle roared from behind as he charged at the android with a machine gun constructed in front of him.

Before the robot could react,Amazo was being pummeled by a torrent of emerald bullets and simultaneously, Kyle turned his construct into a giant T-rex that clamped down at Amazo on the android's shoulder with it's jaws before yanking it off the ground and sending it flying across the ground.

Dick was running on the rooftop of the building, a plan forming in his head on how to beat the android after seeing it phase through his batons.

"Lantern. Keep that thing busy. I've got an idea.", Dick yelled into his earpiece.

"Nightwing to Miss Martian. I need your help. ", Dick yelled .

"Coming!", M'gann yelled as she dispelled her duel with the mammoth and flying towards the terrace . She didn't see the gargantuan along with the other two hired agents slinking away into the shadows . Their part of the job was done.

/

Kyle watched as the android shattered Kyle's construct into pieces and charge at him with the superman mode on.

"That's it. ", Kyle cursed as he stuck both her arms together, creating a translucent emerald mega blaster over his two arms. He then fired out a continuous stream of energy out of his constructed blaster at Amazo, forcing the android to screech back due to the force before stepping forward gradually, pushing back against Kyle's blaster.

Just then, Dick's voice yelled through Kyle's earpiece.

"Lantern, get out of the way!", Dick yelled . Wondering what he was upto, Kyle evaporated his construct and shot skywards, out of the android's way just in time as it charged forward.

"NOW!", Dick yelled and hurled his baton at the android from the rooftop, with M'gann controlling it's flight towards Amazo, giving the android just enough time to convert it's abilities into the flash.

" _Access Flash."_ the android remarked as predicted and vibrated it's body, allowing the baton to phase right through it's body.

But M'gann , who was controlling it's flight pattern, stopped the baton mid air, with the weapon right inside Amazo's body. The android stopped vibrating and instantly, the baton was wedged right through Amazo's chest, where it's control capacitor was located. For a few seconds as they watched, the android stood stock still, unmoving with a blank look on it's robotic face. Then, blue electricity began to run over the android's body before it's head exploded and fell to the floor like a log, with smoke trailing from the spot where Dick's baton was wedged into its body.

Kyle and Miss Martian hovered down towards the offline body of the Amazo android, with M'gann holding the body of the still paralyzed eagle form of Garfield that she'd found on her way to help Dick.

The android still had smoke trailing from where Dick baton was wedged. Dick leapt off the building,using his grapple gun to zipline down to them.

"Is...it dead?", M'gann asked, a little apprehensively.

"It was never alive.", Kyle replied as the three of them eyed the synthetic robot with detestful eyes.

M'gann looked around, a little perturbed.

"Guys? um...Where's Kara?", the green skinned martian inquired.

/

Ivo trudged along the pathways outside the lab compound, cursing fluently. A bunch of meddling children had foiled his plans. They head beaten his Amazo. And they had foiled his attempt to eliminate Silas Stone as well.

As he turned around he corner, he stopped in his tracks, his breath caught in his throat. He noticed the figure of a girl hovering inches above the pavement, her cape billowing behind her mimicking the movements of her hair.

As he stepped back in shock , Kara hovered forwards into view, out of the darkness. She had her arms crossed across her chest and her eyes were glowing red.

"Don't...move...a muscle...", Kara warned.

Ivo grit his teeth and whipped around, attempting to give her the slip. Then, in a blur, Kara zipped forth ,catching the man by his collar and hauled him up, with his feet dangling above the pavement.

"You moved.", Kara simply stated.

"Well I suppose you're just going to turn me in for 'justice' now ? hmm? Interrogate me?", Ivo replied with a mock tone.

"You read my mind, old man.", Kara scoffed with a snort.

"You're quite the Kryptonian aren't you, Girl? Hmm?", Ivo taunted.

"I guess you haven't heard. There's a new Kryptonian in town.", Kara smirked and raised her hand up to her earpiece to call in Dick and the others.

"Now..Let me think. Where have I seen your face before? Hmm...", Ivo droned on in a mocking tone as he tapped his chin with his fingers.

" _Nightwing here. Supergirl. Where are you?",_ Dick voice crackled through the earpiece.

Just then , an epiphanic expression shot onto Ivo's mangled face.

"That's right! Oh how silly of me!You look exactly the way your mother did the last time I saw her!", Ivo exclaimed, catching Kara off guard. She was just about to report to Dick about her position and now she stopped mid way, her mouth partly open.

"My...What the hell are you talkin about?", Kara scoffed with a confused expression on her face.

"Oh, Wouldn't you like to know?", Ivo taunted with a smirk on his face. He knew he had her in his palm now.

"Haven't you always wondered why your mother left you ? What forced your parents to give you away? What she may be upto now?", Ivo droned on deriliously.

"TALK OR I'LL BLOW YOUR GODDAMN HEAD OFF!", Kara roared, pulling the man closer to her face, his feet dangling. Smoke was trailing from her crimson eyes as fury began to grip her. The man had broached an uncomfortable topic . How the hell did he know so much about her anyway?

"Temper. Temper! Your quite the little fire-cracker aren't you, Supergirl? You know what? I'll play fair. Let's make deal. We both get what we want and nobody gets hurt. Hmm? What say you?", Ivo remarked with a smirk. Kara remained silent, apart from the fact that she was basically shaking with contained rage.

" _If_ you want to know what happened to your dear old mother and where she is now, you will let me go. I'm a man of my word." Ivo stated coolly.

"You see,I was there that night when they found her. _But_ if you hand me in now, you will never know what was almost on the tip of my tongue and the regret of not knowing will consume you for the rest of your life. It's your choice, Kryptonian.", Ivo elaborated .

Kara didn't budge for a whole ten seconds. She simply glared at the detestable man in front of her with burning red eyes and her head shaking in yearned to tear , to rip his head off his shoulders and throw his body into the gutter. That's how mad he had made her.

Then, she slowly lowered back down to the pavement and her glowing red eyes eased back to her normal part of her knew what she was doing was wrong but there was a small, vague voice inside her head that wanted to know about her past. Try as she might, that voice had always been there and she'd never managed to snuff it out.

Ivo let out a small sigh of relief , for he had been thinking she might just turn him in for one second. How nice to know that not all Kryptonians were selfless like the big blue boy scout.

Kara let go of her grip on his collar and he began to back away towards the vacant road.

Just then, a black car rounded the roadway and screeched to a halt near them. The man hurried over to the vehicle, opened the back door and handed his tablet over to a female sitting inside, shrouded by the darkness within the vehicle.

Just then, Ivo turned around as he was about to close the door behind him and gave Kara a smirk.

"I'll be in touch, Supergirl.", the man with the mangled face snided before he got in and the vehicle drove away.

Kara felt sick. Pathetic. Horrible. What she had done...was doing.. was wrong. There was no excuse to it. She felt bad. But she wanted...needed to know what happened to her parents . Why she had been forced to live in an orphanage all her life.

Just then, she heard a commotion behind her and she turned around to find M'gann flying towards her with a paralyzed Garfield in tow. Kyle brought up the rear with Dick being brought by him via an emerald platform that was constructed by the sixteen year old green lantern.

"Kara.. What were you doing out here?", Kyle inquired as they hovered down to her.

"I was... pursuing Ivo. ", Kara replied a little uneasily.

Dick looked around,albeit in pain, clutching his rib area and panting .

"So? Did you get him? Where is he?", he asked, looking back at the blonde girl, who was rubbing her left shoulder, not meeting their eyes.

"He...got away.", Kara replied apprehensively .

"He...What?! How!? You're supposed to have super speed, super vision and flight! How the hell did some old fool get away from you?!", Kyle scoffed in disbelief.

"He got away! Okay!?", Kara right temple was now beginning to throb.

"Kara. It's okay. Kyle was just confused, just like the rest of us. But I'm sure you did all you could to get the bastard. Don't worry. We'll get him another time. ", Dick replied, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm calling it in. You, M'gann and Kyle get the amazo android to the rooftop. Much easier for pick up .And check if any of the others are still around, though I doubt it.", Dick continued as he turned, walking forward, talking into his comms unit.

"We need to get Gar fixed up. Looks like he got a pretty big dosage of whatever that paralyzing agent was he? Spider-man? Spider-ling? or assassin spider...Something like that?", Kyle asked as he and M'gann flew onwards.

"I'm not sure he told us his name.",Kara heard M'gann reply as she took off, slowly tailing her teammates . Unseen by the titans, a dark figure stood silently on a rooftop of a building a few blocks away, watching them intently.

* * *

 **So that's all for this chapter folks! And I know that Kara's crush on Nightwing is sudden and there's a huge age difference but it actually existed in the comics, for those who don't know. Just regard it as Kara's infatuation of sorts. Anyway, I'm straying off topic. Thanks for reading this chapter . Please leave a review of what you think so far and I can't wait to share the rest of this story arc with you guys. Till next time!**


	13. Chapter 13 -Myriad

**Hey guys! Sorry for the late update. I'm visiting my grandparents and cousins in Spain and I've been here for the past one month. The internet connection is kinda bad and laggy . So it's been really slow on the uploading part. On top of that, I've had college applications to do and this and that..urgh.. Anyway. I'm straying off topic. If you're one of the early readers, you may or may not find a few errors here and there but I'll republish the proof-read version when I've got the free time. PS: I've added an OC in this chapter and he'll play a part in Rose's area of this story arc. You'll know who the OC is when you read it.**

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Thirteen - Myriad**

* * *

Diana sped through the misty skies with the snow buffeting against he , forcing her to squint as she made her way to the designated location.

Her long tresses billowed behind her as if the winds itself was trying to stop the amazonian. With Superman away accompanying Hal and J'onn off world on a league mission, she was the next logical choice.

" _Diana, you're approaching the target zone._ ", Bruce's voice relayed through her earpiece.

"Understood.", the Amazonian replied, slowing down her flight speed.

" _Can you see anything?",_ Dinah Drake's voice came through the comms.

"No. The weather's a bit rough ... I can't get a clear view.", Diana replied.

" _Use the caligraphic lenses. They can block out any visual disturbances and zoom in about ten times of what you can normally see."_ , Bruce replied monotonously.

"Ahh. Right. I knew this strange contraption had some form of use.", Diana mumbled to herself as she pulled out the said eye goggles from the makeshift utility belt that Bruce had given her for the scouting mission.

As Diana rotated the nozzle, zooming her vision forward, she caught sight of nothing but bare snow for about a hundred miles.

"I see nothing so far. ", the Amazonian princess remarked, looking around.

" _So it's a bust?",_ Dinah's voice interjected just as something caught Diana's eye.

"Maybe not. Batman, Black canary, I can see two army vehicles ; military grade and a battalion of soldiers in camouflage approaching a base. Some kind of entrance , I presume. I can take these men.", Diana replied.

 _"Negative. We can't have an international incident under the current political conditions. You're just as big of a target for the press as Superman is. Just plant the tracker in the snow nearby and report back. We'll send the titans in on this mission. None of them are known targets for the media or otherwise and therefore, make perfect candidates for this job._ ",Bruce's voice crackled through as Diana reached into her belt and pulled out a cylindrical tracking device.

"If you're just going to make me fly around like your errand girl, don't call me next time,Bruce.", Diana replied coolly with an unimpressed tone as she flew down to an abandoned area to plant the tracker into the snowy mounds.

* * *

 _Somewhere outside the Himalayan Mountain Ranges,_ _FEBRUARY 09, 04:13 ECT_

Kara sat on the seat of the JL stealth flier, dressed up in a white , cape-less body suit provided by the Justice league for a stealth mission. Her new suit had her supergirl shield branded in the middle of her chest and was made to look exactly like a white version of her original Kryptonian suit. Her sleeves were pulled all the way up to her palms, only exposing her fingers outward .

Next to Kara sat M'gann, herself a little jittery. She kept plugging earphones into her ear and lightly tapped her heel on the ground as she tried to calm herself by trying to lose herself in whatever music she was listening to. Dick and Damian stood upfront close to the cockpit, rambling on about potential strategies and outcomes. Bart seemed the most relaxed out of them, as he lay down on one of the seats, his phone in one hand and a banana in the other. Like Kara, the other titans were also sporting white and grey renditions of their uniforms to blend in better with the snowy environment.

Black canary was upfront, in the cockpit, piloting the aircraft as Batman paced the small corridor between both seating areas of the military styled aircraft. He was their mentor for the mission.

"This access station seems to be the source of the volatile toxin recovered from the mission aboard the Ivoria barge. ", Bruce remarked as the other looked up.

"Infrared scans ran on the site earlier by superman and both the green lanterns suggest that there is indeed a covert operating station underneath the mountain ranges. The perpetrator seems to have prior knowledge of method employed by the league of Assassins.", Bruce continued as the aircraft shook a little from turbulence.

"This is strictly a recon mission. Observe and report only. If the league needs to intervene, we will. Your only job is to get in, find out if the data is correct and get out. ", Bruce replied , glancing over all of them as they all gave him a straight face. Bart continued to munch on his energy bar.

"We have reason to believe that there may be prior motion detectors set around the place so it wouldn't be advisable for supergirl to use her flight and neither should Kid Flash travel at a speed above mach three. ", Bruce added as Kara nodded. Bart , on the other hand, was a lot more expressive. He groaned rather loudly, earning him a spiteful glance from Bruce, forcing him to zip around, cowering behind Kara rather comically.

"Heh.. Aye-Aye Cap'n ?" he wheezed weakly, peeking out from behind Kara like a shy child on their first day of school.

Just then, Dinah's voice interjected from the cockpit.

"Drop zone approaching.", the blonde woman called out as she flicked the switch, opening the hatch of the aircraft.

"Remember. No unnecessary actions. Get in, get the data and get out.", Bruce reminded them one more time as all of them leapt out of the plane.

It was refreshing, to say the least. Having the wind blow past her face, whipping her hair , she preferred it to being cooped up in an aircraft, listening to orders. Bart, Damian and Dick pulled out their parachutes after thirty seconds of free falling. M'gann and Kara followed through, flying down after them.

As Kara landed down softly next to the group, Dick and Damian were unclipping their parachutes and Bart was already done.

"Oooohh. Is it just me or is this place cold enough to freeze our asses off?", the teenaged speedster shuddered.

"Didn't you get the memo? I briefed you guys that our mission was to the Himalayas .", Dick asked as he folded his chute and stuffed it into the snow, concealing it out of sight.

"Oh..hah..Yeah. No. ", Bart chuckled through chattering teeth.

"Father. We're in position.", Damian whispered into his comms as he moved ahead and crouched.

" _Good. Keep alert and move in._ ", Bruce's voice crackled out of their earpieces.

"Kara. Move on forward . Scout the area .", Dick whispered as Kara nodded, blinking once before her vision switched to a world of red, bright green and dark blue. She zoomed her vision tenfold and squinted her eyes, trying to pick out any guards nearby.

"Nobody in sight.", Kara whispered back.

"Good. M'gann, lead the way but stay in camouflage mode. We'll follow behind closely. Send us a mental warning if you see anything.", Dick remarked, glancing over at the green martian, who nodded. She drew her hood over her head and floated forwards, disappearing from sight to everyone except Kara, to whom M'gann's heat signature gave her away.

Kara still didn't like having someone intruding inside her head, but after M'gann promised that she would only access the part of their brain to communicate mentally and after being coaxed by a determined Dick, Kara finally gave in to having M'gann talk inside her head. She had had practice sessions where M'gann talked mentally with her on the way to their current position but it was still not any easier. But hey, you couldn't have it all your way, right?

Suddenly, Kara's hearing picked up the sound of snow shifting suspiciously a few feet away.

"Shhh. Something's moving. ", Kara whispered to the others and all of them suddenly stood stock still in their places.

Craning her neck, she looked around and her eyes finally picked up traces of body heat moving a few feet away. Ten men.

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming from the left. ", Kara whispered.

"Got it.", Dick whispered before turning to Bart.

"You know what to do.", the twenty four year old whispered as the teenaged speedster.

"No problemo!" Bart grinned as he turned on his heat detectors and zipped in the direction Kara had pointed to.

One second later, the air was filled with the grunts and surprised noises of the men who were being knocked out by Bart at a rapid pace. Then the speedster zipped back into view, a proud expression on his face.

"No need to thank moi people. Just a day's work.", Bart remarked as he switched off the infrared vision.

"Good. Each of you take this.", Dick whispered, handing them each a version of the body heat concealer, instructing them to clench the silvery tube in between their teeth. The others showed signs of feeling a chill travel down their bodies but Kara felt nothing.

"Now move in and stay hidden.", Dick continued as Kara moved on, leading the way .

After about ten whole minutes of trudging along silently in the knee high snow, Kara and the others came to a clearing, a rocky wall . A dead end. There was a hundred foot drop cliff on the left side of it and another bunch of rocky ledges on the the right.

"Uhh...Now what?", Kara mumbled, scratching her head, a little confused.

"We enter the place through the caveway that Batman located.", Dick replied with a smirk as he strode past her and tapped onto the rockway, glancing back at her.

Kara, a little confused, walked forward and dug her fingers into the rock where Dick had indicated. She then slowly pulled sideways, inching the rock with her , displacing it out from it's position. Once out of place, she had a surprised expression on her face as she examined the pathway that had emerged from behind the rock before she stepped aside to let the others in.

Bart and Dick moved forwards but Damian moved towards Kara with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"What? I didn't see it, alright?", Kara retorted hotly, crossing her arms across her chest.

Damian snorted and walked forwards.

"I thought you were the girl with X-ray vision, Zor-El. I see even I can be wrong sometimes.", the fifteen year old taunted , leaving Kara flustered as she raised her fist to land a solid punch on the irritating twit.

Just then, the familiar voice of M'gann spoke up from behind them.

"Sector clear. There weren't any more guards in our path.I scouted ahead.", the green skinned martian remarked as she decamoflaged.

"Good work, M'gann. Kara, close the doorway and come on.", Dick replied before he pulled out a glowstick.

"It'll get pretty dark.", he chuckled as he handed two more to the others.

Together, the titans crept along in the winding pathway in the dark, with Kara bringing up the rear and Dick leading the front.

/

Soon, after about ten minutes of trudging along in the darkness, the group came to a dead end in front of a rusty, brownish rectangular door that seemed like it had been built there decades ago. The rusty metal door handle seemed like it would break from it's screws if one were to turn it .

"Kara. Check to see if there's anyone on the other side.", Dick whispered .

Nodding, Kara drifted forward and squinted her eyes hard, trying to see through the metal. But to her dismay, all she was staring at was the opaque metal door .

Slightly confused, she turned back to the others with a defeated expression on her face.

"I...can't see through it... I dunno why..", Kara muttered, scratching her head.

"The door must be made of lead.", Damian suddenly stated, walking forward.

"And how does that help answer my situation?", Kara mumbled hotly.

"Superman's X-ray vision is incapable of seeing through lead. I doubt yours could either.", Damian droned on with a huff.

"He's got a valid point, babe.", Bart piped up , forcing Kara to shoot a dirty glare at him, which resulted with him throwing up his hands up in surrender with an apologetic grin on his face.

"Everyone. Stay quiet.", Dick hissed as he turned the rusty door handle.

Luckily for them, the door did not creak or make any noise as Dick slowly slid it open. Just then, a shadow whizzed past them, taking everyone by surprise. In their state of shock, the group found Damian already crouched on the other side of the door, hidden in the shadows of wooden crates fixed into the sooty floor.

"Coast is clear. ", Damian whispered to the others before shooting his grappling gun over his shoulder and zipping upwards, out of view.

"Does he do that often?", M'gann piped up as the others followed Dick in through.

"He...tends to do that..yeah...He thinks that's one of the things that'll make him like his dad. ", Dick whispered back .

"Does ...it?", Kara asked, a little irritated about her teammate acting like a solo anything, she should be the one behaving like a solo act. She was sure she could take down the whole base on her own if she wanted to.

Dick didn't reply, merely snorting as he edged out over the corner of one of the wooden crates near Kara got the gist.

"Bart, Move in to vantage point.", Dick whispered , motioning the speedster forward.

" Hold onto your pants people.",the teenaged speedster responded before zipping forward in a crimson blur, out of sight into the shadows.

"Kara, M'gann follow me.", Dick whispered as he moved forward at a fast pace, jogging in the shadows with his back bent over low.

"You don't gotta tell me twice.", Kara replied dreamily , staring after the twenty four year old as M'gann stifled an amused giggle.

/

One of the masked guards stood on the upper levels, near the edge of his floor, watching the scene with a loaded sniper in his hand. He slowly trailed his rifle focus from left to right, the red laser following suit. He was, however, unaware of the dark, hooded shadow creeping in behind him in a crouched position.

Then, in a burst of speed, two slender arms shot up from behind the sniper, one around his neck and the other on his mouth, stifling any sounds of struggle as Damian choked the man unconscious. As the fifteen year old felt the man lose his strength after a few seconds of struggle, he slowly let the body down onto the floor and moved into the position previously occupied by the man. He then spotted two more similar men posted on the east and west wings of the area.

"One target down." he muttered to himself as if this were some training game to him.

/

Dick, Kara and M'gann peered over the crate behind which they were hidden in. There was a large hall which looked like a storage unit, with heavy military grade vehicles moving around, lifting and shifting mysterious crates from one point to another. Armed guards, masked , wearing a similar uniform walked around, patrolling the area.

"There must be a dozen of them.", Dick whispered

"It's... some kind of shipment..", Kara muttered, scouring the area.

"Wonder what's in these units...", M'gann whispered, glancing around.

"Found the manufacturing base.", Kara mumbled, nodding westward.

Sure enough, when Dick peered in the direction with his binoculars, he found a few of the masked thugs huddled in an area, near a black conveyor belt that emerged out of a square opening in the wall. Two men were lifting glass tubular vials that came out on the belt , placing them into square containment units while two more men were stationed at the ready to move the units once they were filled up.

"I know that liquid. It's the same thing that they used to control our minds back on the Ivoria. ", Dick muttered through gritted teeth as he stared at the drug through his binoculars. It had been a few days and he still felt as if residue of the drug lingered inside his bloodstream.

Just then, Kara's hearing picked up a new sound of a vehicle motor approaching the area. She furrowed her brows, glaring in the direction of the sound.

"There's a vehicle incoming. Sounds different from the rest.", Kara hissed, glaring in the direction of the sound.

/

Bart watched from a distance, atop his vantage point on the upper levels as Damian snuck up behind two of the snipers, choking them out before hurling a birdarang at the third sniper. The weapon spun rapidly through the air, past the man's ear and impaled onto the wall behind him. As the man turned back in a moment of shock, the compressor on Damian's weapon released and greenish gas burst out around him, knocking him out as he inhaled it .

As soon as the coast was clear, Bart zipped down towards Damian, expecting the boy wonder to at least show some form of shock at his sudden appearance but the fifteen year old didn't even twitch.

"You didn't even move a muscle.", Bart groaned at the lack of reaction.

"I saw you a while ago and I know you enough to predict what you'll be doing next, Allen.", Damian droned as he walked forward.

"And how come you didn't feel like intervening and helping me out? Could've saved valuable mission time.", Damian chided as Bart chuckled.

"Yeah. True . But where's the fun in that?", Bart replied with a smirk.

/

As the three titans hid and watched from behind the mound of crates, they saw a snow mobile jetting into the warehouse, covered in snow .

The rider dismounted from the snow vehicle and patted their body, shaking off excess flakes of snow. As Kara watched, the person took off the protective masking from their face, letting snowy white hair out, flowing to her waist level.

"Who is it?", Dick asked impatiently.

"I..can't tell. It's not anyone I know. It's a female with white hair. ", Kara whispered back, giving a vague description about the newcomer.

"Is she wearing an eyepatch?", Dick inquired, to which Kara shook her head.

"Damn . There's only female I know with white hair and she wears a one eyed mask. ", Dick cursed, remembering the masked woman from the barge who ordered him around when he was being mind he still had no idea who she was or why she dressed up in the likeness of Deathstroke.

"When I asked for backup, I thought there'd be more.", a raspy female voice spoke up and the three of them turned to see another female walking, striding towards the newcomer . She had shoulder length black hair that was neatly kempt and she wore tight fitting clothing. It wasn't anyone Kara nor M'gann recognized but Dick, on the other hand, did.

" _Shiva._ ", Dick whispered from his spot.

"Who's..Shiva?", both M'gann and Kara asked in union.

"You don't wanna know.", Dick replied. He had learned that the hard way over the years.

"But we still don't know who our mystery gal is .", Kara whispered, focusing in on the white haired female. She didn't look much older than her, In kara's opinion.

Just then, an idea popped up in M'gann's head.

"I could go in for a closer look and send you guys a mental image of the woman. Maybe Damian or Bart may know who the person in order to do that...you'll all have to open you minds to mine. For me to establish a mental link.", M'gann replied, a little unsurely.

Kara's opinion on the idea was clear with her scowl but Dick furrowed his brows in thought. It was the only way.

"Good thinking, M'gann. Go ahead.", Dick replied, much to Kara's disdain but she chose to remain silent about it.

"Okay. ", M'gann replied, a little elated that he agreed with her and drew her hood up.

"M'gann. Be careful. And ya might wanna let the others know before-hand what your doing inside their heads.", Dick added, to which M'gann nodded before she vanished from view, turning invisible.

"You're awfully nice to her.", Kara hissed, unable to hide her jealousy at Dick's approval of M'gann's idea.

"What is that supposed to mean?", Dick whispered , giving the blonde teenager an incredulous expression.

"Nothing.", Kara replied.

Suddenly, M'gann's voice spoke up within Kara's mind. It was still a feeling she hadn't gotten used to .

' _Well, look on the bright side. You're alone with him right now.',_ M'gann replied , communicating with only Kara.

At this thought, she wasn't even mad. She threw a sideways glance at the man next to her and a small smile crept up her face as she tried edging closer to him.

/

"So what's crack-a-lackin?", Bart inquired, munching on an energy bar as he leaned against the metal wall of the security room. Damian stood across the room with his eyes fixed on the computer monitor, his hands rapidly typing codes onto the keyboard . His tiny USB drive was inserted into the system port and it was blinking blue in a rhythmic motion, signalling an inflow of data.

"I'm copying any possible information so that we can figure out where this warehouse leads to and who runs these operations. It's a good habit to get into, Allen.", Damian replied, not bothering to turn back. Bart, however , began to snicker.

"Heh. You said the 'where' audible twice together.", Bart chuckled as he stuffed his mouth.

"I expected no less from you.", Damian remarked tauntingly as he clicked on the enter button. Just then, they all heard M'gann's voice speaking inside their head.

" _Hey guys, this is me speaking...Inside your heads.. um..I'm sorry. Firstly._ _Don't freak out . Nightwing wanted me to establish a mental link up for this , I'm gonna be sending in a mental image of a woman who just came to our notice. Let Nightwing know if any of you recognize her."_ , she remarked. It was a surreal feeling to have somebody else talk inside your , to say the least.

"Got it. Now get out of my head, martian.", Damian droned as a three-dimensional image of a chemical molecule came up on the monitor. Damian had no idea what this was but Bart, on the other hand, instantly recognized the chemical structure of the toxin that had been injected into their nervous system when they were held hostage.

"I know that! It's that drug that those guys injected us with. ", Bart exclaimed with a shocked look on his face, his eyes wide.

"How can you tell?", Damian inquired,a little confused.

"I'm good with science, Rob. I know my chemistry." Bart chuckled.

" Now zoom in on this area here.",Bart added, pointing to one specific area of the molecule on the monitor. Damian complied and when the image zoomed in, a shocked and confused look flitted across Bart's face.

"The main chemical is a subdivison of a Nitrous phosphate alloy but the chemical structure of _this_ ion is...I've not seen this kinda thing before. Gotta say, it kinda looks cool. ", Bart replied, a little scared and a bit amazed at it's structure.

"Yeah? You can ogle at it all you like back at the tower. Let's get what we can and report back.", Damian huffed and was about to click the abort option when Bart shot his hand forward and moved the keyboard out of Damian's reach , all in the blink of an eye.

"Wait a sec. There's a name displayed on the menu bar for the model. It's says..I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right...My-ree... _Myriad? ",_ Bart inquired, honestly confused.

/

M'gann was now hovering a few feet above the white haired female and the others, completely invisible to the naked eye . They seemed to be discussing about something and the other lady seemed to be giving orders to the white haired girl.

She waited until the white haired female turned and seizing the opportunity, M'gann focused in on the mental connection she had set up with her teammates.

" _Guys, I'm in position. I have no idea who this woman is. She honestly doesn't look much older than us. Any of you guys recognize her?",_ the green skinned teenager thought out aloud in her head and all of her teammates heard her perky voice echoing inside their heads.

M'gann used all her energy to focus in and concentrate on the image of the woman beneath her, trying to create as clear of a mental image as any. It wasn't easy doing it, for if the wind were to waver even for an instant, the image would be distorted. J'onn made this look easy.

/

As the image formed inside Dick and Kara's heads, neither of them seemed to recognize the woman. But as the image formed within Bart's mind, his eyes shot wide open in shock. He recognized her.

"It's her! She's here! That babe from the Ivoria who held us captive on the ship! The one who wears the cosplay deathstroke gear! ", Bart exclaimed with a comical expression. He had seen Rose without her mask when their mission had been compromised. He had been too fast for any of the regular soldiers to stop and only Rose had managed to put him down. During that scuffle, he had caught a glimpse of her pale face before his mind had gone blank.

Damian rolled his hands into fists . He had a score to settle with her. She had snow white hair and wore Slade's mask. There was a strong likely hood that she was related to the man. And there was a strong likely hood that she was just as lethal and dangerous as he was.

Just then, the door behind them banged open and a masked guardsman walked in with a shocked look in his eyes. He pulled down on a red lever on the wall and instantly, alarms began whirring around the compound, alerting the others to the presence of intruders.

"Put yer hands where I can-", the man began, raising his rifle at Damian. But he didn't get to complete the sentence as Damian drew out his Bo staff and hurled it at the man's head, knocking him out instantly. As the staff bounced on the floor and spun back to the fifteen year old Robin, he turned his attention toward his teammate, who had an apologetic smile on his face as the speedster shrugged.

"I thought you said you cleared the level.", Damian hissed as Bart chuckled awkwardly at his mistake.

"Um...My bad..", Bart muttered as the alarms rang out.

/

"What happened?", Kara inquired,looking around, crouched in their spot as the alarms whirred around the place.

"Damn it. Someone must've spotted one of us. ", Dick cursed under his breath as armed guards began bolting in every direction, looking for the intruders.

"Kid Flash, you still there?", Dick remarked, raising his fingers to his earpiece.

" _Yeah.",_ Bart's voice crackled out of their comms unit.

"Okay. What the hell happened ?", Dick hissed.

" _Ask the speedster. He did his job inefficiently and it's costing us our mission._ ", Damian's voice interjected through the comms frequency.

" _Okay. Hey. I made a mistake. But that doesn't mean ya gotta rub it in my face for like the fifth time, bird boy!",_ Bart replied with an offended tone.

" _But it is your fault, Allen. Accept your incompetency with honor.",_ Damian cracked back, only for Kara to groan at her teammates' bickering.

" _You're a dick, you know that?...Wait..Not you, Dick. I mean.. Dick as in Damian. I mean...uh.. this is really confusing. ",_ Bart groaned.

"Okay. People. What's done is done. We can't do anything about it. What we _can_ do is plan on getting outta here . Kid flash. I need you to get as many vials of the toxin these bozos are manufacturing and get outta here, back to the ship. The manufacturing base is toward my location. Get to it.", Dick remarked.

" _On it."_ , Bart's voice crackled out.

"Now, Miss Martian. You ,me, Supergirl and Robin need to find another way out so that these guys don't track us back to our getaway craft. We rendezvous outside.", Dick continued.

"Okay. Everybody ready? TITANS, GO!", Dick roared and leapt out, drawing out his electrical batons.

Kara flew out of her hiding place, grabbed a nearby metal crate and threw it at the manufacturing compressor. Upon impact, the ten foot tall metallic cylinder broke open and pressurized, steaming gas shot out, burning the skin off one of the guards standing nearby.

Near the entrance hold, Rose, Shiva and Mammoth noticed the sudden ruckus being created near the other end of the warehouse and wasting no time, the red haired gargantuan shot up into the air, roaring as it leapt over thirty feet in one bound, towards the noise.

"We've got company.", Rose hissed as she pulled the orange and black mask over her face.

/

"Manufacturing base. Manufacturing base. Manufacturing base.", Bart mumbled to himself as he sped around the warehouse in a speeding blur. All of a sudden, he noticed a section of the warehouse that was more heavily guarded and he immediately realized what it was.

"Bingo!", the brown haired speedster exclaimed as he increased his speed, sprinting in the direction.

"There! I see one of em! Men, take your shot!", the commanding officer guarding the base ordered and all of them shot simultaneously at the speedster.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion around him as he sped towards them and a smirk crept up his face as he caught sight of the guards opening fire on him .

"Amateurs.", Bart mumbled to himself , making a mockery of their attempt to catch someone who could run faster than the speed of light.

As the men opened fire, the red streak increased speed and before they knew what was happening, each of them had their guns disarmed and they all lay on the floor, knocked out.

"Nice chatting with you fellas. We should all hang sometime.", Bart added as he rubbed his palms together.

/

Kara flew straight to the ground and smashed her fist against the metallic floor, creating a seismic wave around her that threw most of the guards off balance. In the moment of confusion, Dick hurled one of his batons and it began bouncing around, slamming into the heads of many of the men, ricocheting off the floor before it returned back to him.

Kara was busy eyeing Dick after seeing him in action that she failed to notice the giant creature bolting in her direction. All of a sudden, her pupils dilated as she took notice of the familiar presence just moments before Mammoth grabbed her around her hip area and hoisted her off her feet. He then grabbed her by her hair and spun on his heel twice , using the momentum to send her hurling into a wall behind her, over thirty feet away.

"Supergirl!", Dick yelled and landed a knee kick on the man tussling with him.

He tried to rush to her aid, only to be pushed back by a sudden barrage of gun fire as almost twenty armed guards began shooting at him, singling him out. Dick was forced to break open a crate lid and use it as a makeshift shield , crouching on the floor with the lid held out in front of him.

Bart could hear the sound of gunfire near the southern end of the enormous warehouse but his orders were clear. He sped towards the eastern gates, five transparent vials containing the purplish liquid in it. All of a sudden, he found his way blocked by one teenaged girl with bright pink hair and very distinct black eyeliner . Jinx.

"I'd get outta the way If I were you.", Bart remarked with a cheeky grin as he slammed his heels into the floor."I'd rather not fight a pretty babe like you."

"Good. Makes my job all the more easier.", Jinx smirked and conjured up pink energy around her palms. In a second, she began firing rapidly at Bart, forcing him to dance around her blasts , avoiding it .

"Man, we really should've brought Raven along for this one.",Bart groaned as he bent down,ducking under the pink energy blast that shot over him .

/

Kara felt her head hurt as Mammoth landed a solid blow on the side of her head, sending her flying back into the wall behind her. Before she could react, the gargantuan burst forward and had his hands wrapped around her throat, choking her, crushing her wind pipe.

"You..son of a troll!", Kara spat at him as she gritted her teeth, anger gripping her . Her eyes began to light up bright red and Mammoth was hit with a blast of heat vision, enough to send the fellow tumbling back. Shaking his head, he roared and lurched out, slamming his fist into Kara's abdomen, pinning her against the wall.

This time, she was prepared and she shot heat vision back at the fellow, aiming straight for his red eyes. As the crimson beam of energy shot into his eyes, Mammoth roared in pain and stepped back, clutching at his eyes as smoke trailed out. In the moment of weakness, Kara leapt up, roaring and began punching him backwards, sending him flying back. Kara followed through with a furious roar .

/

Dick was still being pressed down, unable to move from his position as the guards rained down gunfire on him.

All of a sudden, some form of invisible force gripped at a handful of the men and sent them hurling backwards. This happened again and again until Dick was finally clear to stand up and hurl his baton at the final man , shocking him unconscious on impact.

Looking up, Dick couldn't see her but he knew it was M'gann's helping hand.

"Good work.", Dick thought aloud. A second later, M'gann's elated voice came through.

" _Thanks!",_ the green skinned martian thought out as another battalion of armed guards came charging in, only for M'gann to blast them all with her invisible force and Dick to begin attacking on the floor.

But unbeknownst to either of them, with the new batch of guards, Shiva had also arrived and she easily noticed the invisible help that Nightwing was getting from someone present at the scene.

The female assassin stayed motionless as the chaos ensued around her , squinting her hawklike eyes to find Dick's invisible source of aid.

"I thought the manhunter was supposed to be the last of his kind...", Shiva murmured humorously as she locked onto her target.

In a fluid motion, Shiva picked up a black, razor edged shuriken from her belt and hurled it at M'gann.

M'gann was busy blasting men with her force energy to notice that she herself was being aimed at and her sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a whirring metal heading in her direction a little too late . While the Shuriken was inches away from her waist, it suddenly exploded without notice and sent out an electrical pulse that caught M'gann with it's full force, sending a powerful current through her body. In the after effect, the green skinned teenager lost her invisibility and rocketed downwards, crashing onto the floor in a trail of smoke.

Dick noticed the sudden attack and his eyes shot wide open in shock.

" _M'GANN! CAN YOU HEAR ME!? ARE YOU ALRIGHT!", he_ yelled telepathically. There was silence. Then, to his relief, the teenaged martian's voice came through after a few seconds, though she did seem to be in considerable pain.

" _I'm alright. My body hurt a little but Martians heal faster than humans.",_ M'gann replied.

A little relieved , Dick swung around and smashed his baton on the head of a charging guard. He then looked around for the person who had attacked M'gann. Soon, his eyes landed on the figure of Shiva standing motionless with a smirk on her face.

"Using a sneak attack ? I thought you were all about an honorable fight, Shiva!", Dick yelled and charged in her direction.

"I do what I do when It needs to be done.", Shiva simply stated and twirled a dagger in her hand, ready to strike.

/

Bart was growing frustrated, dodging around Jinx's attacks.

"As much fun as it was dancing with you, babe. I gotta to be going. Places to go, people to meet.", Bart remarked and before Jinx knew what he was doing, he sped forth and began running in rapid circles around her, creating a crimson tornado around teenager was sprinting so fast that she could almost see right through his speed funnel due to the velocity at which he was running, making it impossible to pinpoint his direction. She grit her teeth and began firing energy blasts at him, to no avail. He was just too fast for her eye to track.

"You know, you're kinda easy on the eyes there, babe.", Bart remarked, looking up and down her figure as he ran circles around her. Jinx felt her cheeks heating up and as a result, she lost control of her powers.

She ended up creating a pulsing energy blast that shout out of her body involuntarily. Bart increased his speed slightly and in the moment, his crimson funnel had enough kinetic energy to absorb and redirect Jinx's hex blast back at a flash, the energy backfired at her and caught the teenager head on.

"Sorry babe. You were just too clingy to keep up with the KF.", Bart remarked as he screeched to halt to see jinx crumpled on the floor unconscious.

He then zipped out of the warehouse with the vials still intact , along with the USB drive onto which Damian had copied data from the mainframe, muttering to himself about how he should bring a larger stock of food supplies for his next outing.

/

Rose stood guard over the warehouse's main power source. She was alone but she was more than capable of doing the job those teenaged brats were here, she wanted them to find her. Suddenly, she heard a scuffle outside the detention level door and a second later, it burst open with a guard who was gagged and bound by a rope tumbling inwards. Following through was the silhouette of the Robin.

Seeing his figure, Rose grit her teeth and drew out her dual blades.

"What's the matter? It looks like you're rather disconcerted. ", Damian chided, swinging his electrical Bo staff onto his shoulder as he walked in.

"Finally.", Rose replied, glaring at his figure.

"This little party was beginning to get boring."she scoffed and both of them charged forward, swinging their respective weapons, roaring out .

Back in the main section of the warehouse, Dick was engaged with Shiva and the Assassin was proving to be more than a match for the twenty-four year old .

She managed to predict every move he was going to do before he actually did it. He swung his baton around only to have her duck out from under it. He tried various combat combinations with his weaponry but it proved to be futile against Shiva, who was merely side-stepping away from his every move,not even fighting back.

He tried to kick out at her, She simply cartwheeled backwards before she shot out a razor edged dagger . Dick only realized what she was doing a little late and by the time he tried to move out of the way, the dagger had cut through him, impaling into his right shoulder.

"Goddamn it. ", he cursed as he bent at his knees in pain, clutching at the hilt of the dagger .

"And I used to wonder why the batman never sent you to do his dirty work. You really don't do his reputation justice.", Shiva remarked in a cold tone, taunting him as he yanked out the dagger from his body, grunting in pain as blood began to ooze out.

"Maybe.." Dick panted with a smirk, "He just thinks you're not really worth his time. After all. He did kick Ra'as Al Ghul's ass every time they met. You'd be way out of his league."

Shiva didn't say anything back but simply smirked at him as she drew out another blade, walking toward him.

"You forget that you are outmatched and weakened, Nightwing.", Shiva hissed as she advanced on him.

"And you forget that I'm not here alone.", Dick replied with a smirk. For a second, Shiva stood there, a little confused about his remark before the meaning of his words hit her.

The female assassin spun on her heel to defend herself but she was too late. M'gann(who was invisible) raised her hand and blasted Shiva with a force blast, sending the woman hurtling backwards and into a nearby containment unit that broke open on impact, releasing compressed smoke into the air around them.

Shiva groaned as she got to her feet, rubbing her head , a little disoriented.

"And that's payback for before!", M'gann spat at her proudly as she decamouflaged.

Shiva looked around to find supergirl landing punch after punch on Mammoth, pummeling him backwards. Jinx was unconscious on the floor and many of the other armed operatives being taken out .

"I do not waste my energy where there is nothing to gain. Another time then.", Shiva simply stated and stepped backwards into the smoke. M'gann flew in after her but found alone as the smoke cleared.

"Nice work, M'gann.", Dick remarked with a smile to his younger teammate.

"You're hurt.", M'gann replied instead, glancing with concern at the blood oozing from his shoulder, through his body suit.

"Nah. It's okay. I've faced worse during training sessions with the big bad bat.", Dick replied with a smile, although he had to admit it did pain... a lot.

/

Damian leapt up, splitting mid air to avoid the swing of one of Ravager's razor sharp blades. He tried to swing his staff around to strike her but each time, she parried his blow with her sword, forcing him to step backwards as he tried to hold his own. The atmosphere within the warehouse was growing clammy and there was a low rumbling through the ground as they danced around, swinging their weapons.

"I'm going to put you in your grave, Robin!", Ravager yelled and struck out and both of them exchanged a few blow, moving back and forth as Damian struggled to hold his ground against her.

She clearly was a rather tough opponent and Damian finally accepted that when she thrust forward, sending him stumbling back a few steps . She then quickly followed up with slice with her blade and she found her target, slicing at Damian's left tricep area, cutting it open.

"What the hell is your deal?!", Damian yelled as he clutched at his bruise as red liquid began to ooze out. The fifteen year old then dropped two silvery smoke pellets that released compressed gas into the chamber, concealing him from view.

"You think the darkness is your ally? You've not seen, not felt, not learnt darkness like I have!", Ravager yelled in fury as she switched on the infrared vision in her mask. A sharp gasp elicited her mouth as she spotted his short figure inches away from her own, his legs out in front of him. A mere second later, she felt the sharp pain in her abdomen area as he landed a solid kick on her.

Damian then planted his feet firmly into the ground, trying to establish a firm base to attack. But Ravager caught on to his intention and swung her feet around, landing a solid kick on his abdomen, sending him tumbling back in pain.

"ARRGHH!", Ravager yelled in plain fury as she slashed at him with her swords. She clearly had been more dominant in the fight than Damian, who didn't have his preferred sword with him.

The boy wonder cartwheeled backwards and leapt onto the silvery railing of the floor staircase nearby. Ravager followed through, slashing at the air with her sword, leaving Damian to leap from left railing to the right railing and back again, dancing to avoid her blades.

Finding a gap, he swung his staff down onto her head, landing a solid blow .

In the confusion, he kicked out at her , sending her tumbling backwards off the stairwell and onto the floor .

She dropped her blades in the concussive force and crashed into the power source of the area.

" There's a difference between you and me. You pretend to be a weapon. But I don't need to. I _am_ a living weapon. ", Damian spat as he picked up her blades, swinging them around , pointing them at her as he walked forward to her figure leaning on the cylindrical power cell.

Ravager, panting , looked up at Damian's face through her mask.

"Are you going to kill me like how you all did _him_?", she taunted with a raspy voice, catching Damian off guard.

"I..what?", Damian spat incredulously . For once, he honestly did not understand her choice of was she talking about?

In the moment of confusion, Ravager drew out a smaller dagger that was concealed in her forearm gauntlet and plunged it straight into Damian's chest, narrowly missing the area where his heart was located.

The fifteen year old roared in pain and in retaliation, slashed back at her with all the energy he had. But Ravager managed to duck out from under his reach and Damian instead ended up plunging the dual blades hilt deep into the nuclear power cell behind her.

Both of them gaped at the power cell as gas began to leak out of it .

Ravager growled and picked up Damian's Bo staff from the ground, intending to beat him up with it but just then, a voice crackled out of her earpiece.

" _Rose. Get out of there! That sector is about to blow for a four mile radius!_ ", the a middle aged male voice yelled.

"Shut up! I can take him.", she hissed back into her earpiece as Damian glared back up at her with teeth baring.

" _You could. But in the process, you will end up condemning your own life to death! Please come out of there! You can fight them another time! ",_ the voice yelled back and it sounded like the person on the other end of the transmission was being panic stricken.

Rose switched off her earpiece in irritation and glared down at Damian, his staff in her hand.

Before Damian could react, Rose brought down the staff at his shin , throwing him off balance. Damian fell flat on his back and clenched his teeth for the final blow he knew was coming. But he lay there and it never came. Looking up, he found himself lying on the floor, alone, with his staff lying inches away from his feet.

/

Outside,in the main warehouse Kara and M'gann were helping Dick to move out of the area. The girl of steel had had a tough time going back and forth with Mammoth(who had improved greatly in strength since their first encounter all those months ago) and she had finally subdued him by smashing his head into an electrical phase point, sending enough electrical currents through his body to penetrate his rock solid skin and knock him out . Although she had gotten to Dick and M'gann in time , she searched the area for the gargantuan but he, along with Jinx and many of the men, had seemingly vacated the area .

Just then, they heard a loud bang and whirring alarms rang out of the area.

"Now what?", Dick groaned as the three of them looked around.

"Dunno.", Kara , their comms unit crackled online and Bart's voice came through .

" _.Uh.. Guys..."_ Bart's voice crackled through their comms, " _I don't wanna rattle you up but.. You all really need to get the hell outta that place fast. Batman's detecting a massive nuclear power surge coming out of the place."_

"Meaning...?", Kara inquired, a little confused.

"IT'S GONNA BLOW!", Dick yelled hastily and that was a lot more clearer for Kara and M'gann to understand.

"Come on! Let's get outta here!", Kara yelled and her first instinct was to grab onto Dick's torso and hug it closer to her as she made to try and fly him out of the place. M'gann followed through as the three of them rose up but a shocked look flitted across her face and she stopped abruptly.

"Guys! Wait! Where's Damian!?", the green skinned martian yelled nervously and Kara stopped as well.

"Son of a bitch..", Kara cursed in annoyance at the robin , who had picked this time of all times to vanish .

"Can.. you locate him?", Dick panted as he tried to hide the pain he was feeling from being held tightly by Kara.

"Um..Let me try.", M'gann said as she lightly touched her temples . Her hair began to blow off her face gently as her eyes lit up bright white.

"Got him! ", M'gann stated a few seconds later and flew in the northward section of the enormous nuclear warehouse.

Kara nodded and flew in the opposite direction with Dick, straight to the roof.

"Um.. What exactly are you.. No! Wait! Let's use the exit door! Kara!", Dick yelped as he realized what she was doing.

But it was too late. Inches away from the ceiling, Kara drew back one hand and shot it back out, landing a solid punch on the concrete, smashing it open on impact and she flew straight through it, with Dick hugged close to her.

As Dick felt the cold wintery air whip at his face, he let his head hang as Kara flew him out.

"Let's..not do that again.", he panted, evidently shaken .

/

Damian was trudging along, cursing as he clutched at the dagger sticking out of his chest. He could hear the alarms whirring and practically smell the blast incoming. Just then, the copper plated door in front of him banged open .

The next moment, the power cell overloaded and the explosion went off.

/

Kara had flown Dick a few hundred feet away from the explosion range , distant enough to be out of its range. They watched as the underground factory exploded with a powerful blast and went up in black plume of smoke that rose up as the snowy ground began to rumble in the quake. Fire danced on the snowy landscape and it was certainly a bizarre sight.

"NO!", Dick and Kara yelled simultaneously with obvious fear in their voices .

Kara squinted her eyes while Dick threw up his free hand to shield his eyes from the bright light ahead.

She shot towards the blast, her heart drumming hard at her chest . She coughed as she flew in through the flames, trying to locate any sign of her friends. But it was near impossible. She prayed that they were alive. And she didn't normally pray.

And she couldn't use her infrared vision to detect them either, since any heat possible heat signatures were concealed by the heat of the flames around the area.

"Kara! Can you see them?", she heard Dick yelling from somewhere below.

"No...", Kara muttered, biting her lip in tension as she looked around.

Back on the ground, Dick was cursing under his breath, his eyes fixed on the speck that was Kara up in the sky. Just then, he heard something fast moving in his direction and a second later, the figure of Kid flash sped to a halt at his side.

"Did everyone get clear?", Bart asked.

"No. Damn it. Damian was missing so M'gann went after him. We don't know if they made it out or not.", Dick replied in a tired voice, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

"That is not crash at all.", Bart remarked in a state of shock.

"I'll help her.", Bart added before speeding away straight into the demolished area that used to be the chemical warehouse as the JL stealth craft came hovering down, blowing the snow around the place.

"M'GANN! DAMIAN!", Kara yelled with all the strength she could muster into her voice. With their heat signatures concealed, she was helpless. She would have to try and find them the hard way.

Just then, Kara head a familiar female voice echoing inside her head.

" _We're alright. I managed to put up a force field around us just in time. Kid flash found us . We're coming out.",_ ,M'gann stated telepathically and a wave of relief washed over Kara and she flew back toward where Dick was standing in time to find M'gann and Damian trudging out, looking weary, with M'gann having her arm slung over Bart's shoulder as the speedster was supporting her.

She looked rather clammy and incredibly weakened all of a sudden. If Kara didn't know any better, she looked like she had a very bad fever or something, with sweat trickling down her face. She looked incredibly dehydrated all of a sudden.

M'gann tried to work up a smile she saw Kara and Dick, with the stealth flier hovering a few feet away behind the entourage. But she ended up loosing her footing and fell to the ground in a heap , unconscious .

Batman came out of the craft as Dinah parked it momentarily behind them. Bruce whipped out some weird contraption that looked like a silvery white space gun. He clicked on it and it emitted a blue ray that ran up and down M'gann's body as Bart held her up.

"She's fine.", Bruce replied as he put the gadget back into his utility catch.

"She just needs time to recover in colder temperatures. She unfortunately has a weakness to fire and heat just like J'onn does. Get her into the craft.",Bruce replied and followed Bart as he lifted M'gann into his arms and walked into the stealth craft.

Damian, who had been silent up til now, walked up to Dick and Kara with a scowl on his face.

"I could've handled it myself...",Damian huffed and trudged past them to board the flier with the dagger hilt still sticking out of his chest and it was clear that it gave him discomfort, for Kara could hear him groaning with each step.

"Don't worry. That's his way of saying 'thank you'.", Dick wheezed as he spotted the offended expression on Kara's smudged face.

"Little turd.", Kara cursed in irritation.

Dick began to chuckle as all of them headed back to the aircraft.

* * *

Rose Wilson was back in the compound. She avoided any known faces on her way and she just wanted to be alone. She opened the door to her quarters and slammed it behind her to find a man seated at the dining table.

The room had an ominous orangish glow that was cast over it by the crackling fire burning in the sooty fire place. The two bedroom doors that had intricate carvings on it were closed shut and the dining area was filled with drinks and food that her guardian had probably prepared .There were no windows or anything, since the rooms were underground in the compound.

"I had him in my grasp and you didn't let me finish him!", Rose roared in anger, yanking her mask off and hurling it at the floor as she stormed past the man, fuming in rage at the missed opportunity to slay the Robin.

The middle aged man, her guardian, a former member of the league of assassins himself, watched the girl pace around in rage. The man was tall and broad shouldered in stature but he possessed no intimidating air about him. He had a greying, pointy chinstrap beard that he stroked out of habit. He had a receding hairline and his small, keen eyes eyed her silently.

"You seem to be on a suicidal mission to fight this group of teenagers and we are not in fact sure if they did kill your father." he stated in a raspy voice." Please. Calm down, Rose. You will get another chance. "

"They killed my father, Tenzing. I know it. ", Rose fumed. She was telling him the truth. It was what she knew. But she decided against telling the man how she came to acquire the information.

"Well. We aren't even sure if Wilson has passed, to be honest... ", Tenzing whispered under his breath to himself, but Rose had heard him muttering.

"What did you say?!", she spat in fury.

"Nothing! Here. I made this tea especially for you. ", Tenzing stated, handing her a cup of steaming liquid ..

" Pathetic.", Rose hissed as Tenzing wore a shocked expression on his face.

"How can you say that about my tea?! It's a family recipe!", Tenzing huffed as Rose shot him an irritated glare.

"I'm going out.", she hissed and stormed out of the room, her head throbbing .

Tenzing stood there, staring at the door . A few silent seconds later, he slowly raised the cup to his lips and sipped up the steaming liquid before letting out a contented sigh.

* * *

"This.. was supposed to be a covert recon mission. Observe, collect the data and report back. ", Bruce simply stated as he glared down on the group of teenagers sitting in front of him on the JL stealth craft with Dinah piloting them back home.

"You disobeyed a direct order which resulted in the destruction of valuable evidence in the warehouse, injuries to two of your teammates and you all almost incited an international incident. ", Bruce chided, reprimanding them all.

"Bruce. Please. You know that Damian and I've had worse stuff done to us than the others did what they thought was necessary in the moment and It all worked out in the end. We got what you needed , didn't we?", Dick interjected, trying to talk down his former mentor.

"He's got a fair point there.", Dinah added from the cockpit , only to have Batman glare at her, which she returned with a defiant smirk.

"Nevertheless, your actions were careless and almost cost you. The league will handle this case from this point on.", Bruce finished before he turned and joined Dinah in the cockpit, leaving the titans to talk amongst themselves.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry enough to eat a whole Island!", Bart exclaimed.

"Thanks.", Dick replied as Kara walked over to him and handed him a compressing coolant to apply on his deep cut.

But the girl of steel noticed that Dick had his eyes fixed on Damian and when she followed his gaze, she noticed the brooding teenager gazing out of the aircraft window, his face lost in thought. Something was troubling him.

"You know. If there's anything on your mind. You can just talk to us.", Kara remarked to him as she handed him the same coolant, which he accepted with an unreadable expression.

Even if he did talk to them, none of them would understand. _She_ was _his_ was no doubt in his mind now. She moved like him. Her combat method was similar to his. And their next meeting was inevitable. It was only a matter of time. He needed to be prepared. The titans needed to be ready.

* * *

Diana flew down to the entrance of the Hall of Justice building. She knew that press photographers were around, hiding , waiting to take photographs of the league members and make up stories about them. In the beginning it was disturbing to her, how they invaded people's privacy. But it didn't matter anymore. She didn't care really.

She was now walking through the main hallway and stood in front of the sliding sensor doors of the detention lab . She pressed her right palm down on the scanner and it automatically registered her identity.

As the doors slid open , she walked inside, stretching out her back muscles and she caught sight of a certain someone in a black cape with his black cowl placed on the metallic desk nearby.

"So. You find the missing link to your codex yet?", Diana inquired with a sly smirk as she walked up to Bruce Wayne.

"I still need some elements confirmed and Barry's already looking into it at the Star labs facility in Central city. ", Bruce replied .

Just then, the computer analysis was completed and the data was scripted onto the holoscreen. A shocked look flitted across Bruce's face.

"What is it?", Diana asked, a little perturbed.

"This toxin in powerful enough to infect and completely take over the cerebral cortex of the human brain. It's also a modification on the previous toxin brought in. If given the right dosage, it could put a person under a complete trance and under complete mental control. If this is used by the wrong person, it could prove deadly. And that's only if we're lucky. ", Bruce elaborated as he stared at the blue, transparent holoscreen with a shocked expression.

* * *

 **That's all folks!**

 **PS: I just found out that the new animated movie, Justice league dark, may have John stewart and the hawk man in their line up and it's set in this universe. Should I add them in my story as league members or just leave them out?** **Please leave your suggestion in the review.**

 **Please leave a review and fav/follow if you enjoyed this chapter! It really helps me to write more.**

 **Until next time!**


	14. Chapter 14 -Trajectory

**Author's Note: This chapter is focused on Bart and explores his and Barry's relationship a little. It also hints as to why he came back in time in the first place. Remember, my version of Bart is a little different from the comics and the YJ tv show, he doesn't come from any post apocalyptic universe .**

 **PS: This chapter may have a few mistakes here and there. But I'll upload the proofread version soon.**

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Fourteen – Trajectory**

* * *

 _SAN FRANCISCO CITY MALL,FEBRUARY 11, 20:16 EDT._

The city mall was roaring in retail and sales business, with Valentines day approaching. They mainly targeted teenagers and young adult couples, giving them coupons or heart shaped balloons as they walked through the mall. The air was thick with the warm, fuzzy feeling you always felt during festive seasons and the distinct aromas of various fastfood stores wafted through the air as the throng of couples made their way to their destinations.

Bart was offered the sixth coupon for the day as he and his date walked into the bowling alley in the mall. He pocketed the coupon in case it could come in handy for later. He wasn't one to turn down free opportunities.

"So how'd you like this place so far?", he asked , grinning, as he dug his hands into his pockets, leading her along as they entered the bowling alley.

"You know, I'd never have pegged you as someone who likes to bowl, Allen.", his date replied .

Bart had just met Linda Park two days ago at the city movie convention center and he had somehow managed to get her to go on a date with him. Linda was a pretty quirky girl with big doe brown eyes and waist length black hair that had been combed sideways and it had a sweet, fragrant smell to it. She wore a small leather jacket over the flowery dress she was wearing for the night.

"Oh ,are you kidding. This spot happens to be one of my favorite places in the city and I'm guessing…that this is the only sport that I can probably beat you at.", Bart replied with a chuckle, turning and walking backwards , facing Linda.

The loud music rang out through the air and teenagers of all ages walked around the place, chatting among themselves. The strong smell of frappes and lattes drifted through the air, tingling the nostrils upon arrival. There were also many teenaged couples lining the walls, kissing each other , away from the prying eyes of their parents, caught up in their own worlds.

"Oh? You think so, huh?" ,Linda replied with a smirk, playing along.

"Uhm.. I'm pretty sure…", Bart replied with a cheeky smile.

Just then, a familiar voice to Bart spoke up behind him . It sounded all too familiar.

" Bartholomew Allen?!", a female voice spoke up .

And when Bart spun around on his heel to locate the person, his eyes landed on the figure of Kara, who had a bowling ball in her hand. Next to her stood Kyle and both of them had a smirk on their faces. They had purposefully called him that.

"Oh! Hey! …Guys! What're you ..um.. What're you doing here?",Bart asked, sounding a little breathless.

"You…Know them?", Linda inquired a little quietly to Bart, who had a surprised look on his face. With all his speed, he seemed a little lost in time at the moment.

"Hmm? Oh! I'm sorry!", he replied quickly and brought over his date towards his friends.

"Linda. These are some of my friends, Kara and Kyle. ", the teenager remarked, indicating to the teenagers .

"Guys, this is the Linda I told you about.", Bart remarked, nodding to them. The two smiled at her, acknowledging her presence.

"So..", Linda asked, looking at Kara and Kyle.

"Are you two on a date as well?", she asked nonchalantly.

"What?", both Kara and Kyle remarked, glancing at each other with incredulous expressions before turning back to Linda.

"Oh no! No .She's not.. We're not…like that… We're here with our friends, actually . They've just gone to get some drinks. ", Kyle answered, glancing at Bart, who had an amused expression.

Just then, a female voice spoke up and the group turned to see three people making their way towards them.

"Bart! So nice of you to join us!", M'gann beamed . She had her skin turned to look like that of a caucasian human girl, with freckles lining her cheeks.

"Yeah. We were just about to start a game. Wanna join?", Jaime asked.

Bart opened his mouth to answer but then looked at his date unsurely, wondering what her answer would me. Honestly, he himself just wanted to leave the scene with his date before his teammates embarrass him in front of her or something. Unfortunately, Linda began to smile and nod.

"We don't..wanna interrupt your date.", Garfield remarked, glancing around with a smile.

"No. It's..fine.I'd like to get to know Bart's friends anyway.", Linda replied sweetly.

"Hi! I'm Megan . ", M'gann chirped, shaking Linda's hand with a smile on her face.

"And this is Garfield and that's Jaime. And I'm guessing you've already been introduced to Kyle and Kara.",the martian stated, pointing to the people as they all exchanged smiles. Linda nodded.

" Megan, you go first .", Kara proclaimed as she handed the people the bowling balls.

"Okay!", M'gann chirped and walked forward .

" _This is a lot heavier than I expected_!", M'gann groaned telepathically so that everyone of them besides Linda heard her.

" _By the way, Bart.. She's pretty cute.",_ M'gann added and it resulted in the others snickering at Bart, while Linda was oblivious to all of this.

"Is it just me or..does your friend,Garfield look really green?", Linda whispered to Bart as she eyed beastboy suspiciously.

"Hah-Hah. Yeah..Um..He just…was at a cosplay convention and had a lot of…body paint on him. ", Bart replied quickly, berating himself mentally for the lame excuse.

/

It came as a surprise when they found that Garfield and Bart were in fact leading the little competition. Unbeknownst to the others, Garfield had been using eagle eyesight to take aim at the pins , resulting in sucessive spares, with him being the leading scorer.

"Boo ya!", the green skinned teenager exclaimed victoriously for over the sixth time as he passed the others.

"Dios Mio...Would you just shut up?", Jaime groaned.

"Crash. Totally crash. Now watch how the mastero does it.", Bart replied as he stepped forth. Bart was the second leading scorer present and true to his word, he was pretty good at bowling, much to the surprise of even his own friends.

Squinting his eyes, he focused on the pins and swung his ball forward, letting go . They all watched as the ball rolled straight at the middle pin and knock it out. The telescreen lit up with 'STRIKE' written on it.

Bart turned around and bowed with a cheeky smile as if he was receiving applause from the others.

"Told ya I was good at this.", Bart smirked at Linda, who smiled back.

"I guess I was wrong.", the teenaged girl replied.

Just then, they group heard panicked screams from the crowd nearby and whipped around to find a blonde teenaged girl rushing in, clutching to her purse as if it was her life. She had a terrified and confused look on her face as she came sprinting into the bowling arena . They could all see the crowd panicking and moving in random directions behind her.

Before anyone knew what was happening, something moving incredibly fast entered the bowling alley and all anyone could see was a red streak of lightning as it zipped around, throwing people off their feet and upturning tables, too fast for the eye to see.

The red streak zipped around in various directions for a couple of seconds before it vanished altogether completely. Just then, chaos ensued around the place.

"It was the flash!", one girl yelled.

"He took my wallet!", another yelled.

"Blimey! He took all the cash!", the british vendor standing at the entrance booth exclaimed , appearing just as confused as the others.

Just then, Kyle checked his pant pocket and a scowl came over his face.

"Last time I checked, the flash wasn't a town thug and neither did he operate In San Francisco.", the teenager mumbled to the group as they looked around in confusion. Bart appeared the most confused of all.

He had a shocked look on his face as he looked at the spot where the speeding red blur had vanished.

Then, on impulse, without thinking it through, the teenaged speedster zipped out of the mall .

"Guys. What the hell was that? Bart, let's … Um… Bart?", Linda remarked, a little confused as she looked around for her date but the brown haired teenager was nowhere to be found.

"He was right here? Where'd he go? ", Linda inquired, a clearly confused look on her others merely glanced around, exchanging looks with each other.

"Umm.", Garfield mumbled, trying to come up with an answer.

"He just went out to call the cops. His… _uncle_ Barry is a CSI.", Jaime remarked quickly, covering for the others.

"oh..Okay..", Linda replied, though she did seem a little down at suddenly being left with a group of people she had just met.

"He should be back soon though. He's really _fast._ ", Kara added . It was a simply remark but she had another implied meaning that Linda wouldn't understand.

/

Bart grit his teeth as he chased after the red streak of lightning in front of him. Whoever it was, they were just as fast as his grandfather.

The two red streaks of lightning sped across the city, blowing papers and other lightweight materials away and throwing cars and people off balance in the process. Bart had never run this fast or been pushed to the limit of his speed to this extent since he came racing after his nemesis through the time barrier.

He was finally now running neck and neck with this speedster and he turned his neck to see who it was. A confused look flitted across his face. It wasn't anyone he knew. He couldn't even identify the person, for their whole body was vibrating too fast for him to make sense of anything.

The speedster merely turned to look at him and before Bart could react, the speedster increased their speed and left him behind in their dust.

As he came screeching to a halt , he slouched forward with his hands on his knees as he looked on where the mystery speedster had left him in their dust.

Bart was just as fast as Barry but this speedster was much, much faster than both of them and it confused him.

"Who..Who the hell are you?", he wondered out aloud as he panted , evidently tuckered out from trying to keep up with the speedster.

* * *

 _TITANS TOWER ,FEBRUARY 12, 10:20 EDT._

"So you're saying that this speedster wasn't Barry?", Dinah asked with a bewildered look on her face as she listened to what the teenaged speedster was telling her.

Damian and Dick were in Gotham, with Batman, having their injuries treated . Raven and M'gann had just left for a new mission that required their telepathic skill set. So the remaining titans were huddled in the common room as Bart and the others filled in Kori and Dinah on what they had witnessed the other night.

"I'm positive.", Bart replied, stuffing his mouth with a sandwich.

"I mean… where did this speedster even come from?", Bart inquired and he genuinely appeared a little perturbed.

"I don't know man. All I know is that blur made sixty smackeroos off of me last .", Kyle chimed in .

"Maybe it's got something to do with the Myriad drug that you guys discovered from that Hive base.", Jaime remarked , his brows furrowed in thought.

"Can't be. Batman confirmed that the drug only brainwashes it's victims .", Dinah interjected.

"So there's only one way a guy can become a speedster, right? ", Kara chimed in .

"A particle accelerator explosion.", Garfield remarked.

"Or you gotta inherit the speedforce like me.", Bart interjected

"Right . But there haven't been any reports of particle accelerators since the one that Barry got caught in . And that was over five years ago. ", Kyle replied.

"So if , let's say another guy got caught in the explosion like ma grandmps did. Why haven't there been any reports of this speedster before? I mean why do we only know about this new guy now?", Bart asked, adding to the confusion of the discussion.

"I don't know but you said yourself that the only way to become a speedster was to get hit by lightning during a particle accelerator reaction.", Jaime replied.

"As far as I know.", Bart remarked as an afterthought.

"Well….", Kori muttered,a little apologetic looking.

"What?", Bart asked with a cocked eyebrow, a little confused. Kori bit her lip and glanced at Dinah, who had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I shouldn't be telling you guys this.. but.. there is another way. Three years ago, there was a villain called Zoom. He was a speedster. ", Dinah began before Bart waved her off impatiently.

"Yeah. Yeah. I've heard it like a million times already. How the flash entered the speedforce for the first time and took down the zoom guy. ", Bart replied hotly.

"Well. That's not entirely what happened.", Kori replied, biting her lip.

"What?", Bart remarked, a little confused.

"Zoom was a guy named Hunter Zolomon. He used to work with the Central city Police department and was one of Barry's best friends. He was the one guy that figured out Barry Allen and the flash were one and the same. Anyway, Hunter was on a case of a meta human and he somehow got hit by the same lightning that turned Barry into the flash. For a while, everything was perfect. He wasn't a full on crime fighter like the flash was, but he helped Barry out on some cases, dressed in a makeshift costume . ", Dinah remarked.

"One time, they were after a metahuman that spewed electrical discharge and it managed to figure out Hunter's identity. So he went after him, thinking that he was the flash and killed his wife. Hunter Zolomon was fast, but not as experienced as Barry was with the speed force, so he asked Barry to go back in time and change the events so that his wife could live. ", Dinah stated .

" But Barry didn't do it..Apparently he said it could risk breaking the timestream . This didn't sit well with Zolomon and Barry didn't know it, but that decision broke their friendship . Zolomon quit his job and disappeared from Barry's life entirely.", Dinah continued.

" Then, a few months later, Zolomon returned as Zoom, and this time, he was convinced that Barry didn't help him because he hadn't gone through enough trauma and he needed to be taught a lesson .So Zolomon began his attack on everyone Barry knew. He created a magnetar generator, a massive circular device that created a black hole around Central city. ", Dinah recounted as the others listened intently.

"No matter what Barry tried, he couldn't access his fastest speed, since Zolomon was siphoning off some of the speedforce,making Barry slower. So, in a desperate attempt to stop Zoom, Barry turned to one of the head scientists who worked at s.t.a.r labs at the time. Doctor Harrison Wells. Nice guy. In his fifties. Anyway , he worked with Barry to create a kind of prototype speed drug called the Velocity-Nine. The V-nine drug enhanced Barry's speed,increasing it triple degree, making him faster that what Zoom was and together with superman, he managed to stop the singularity wormhole over central city by setting off an atomic discharge in the eye of the storm. ", Dinah finished.

As she finished, an uncomfortable silence crept into the room. Everyone stared at her .

"So …what happened to Zoom?", Garfield asked quietly.

"After he saw that he was beaten, Zolomon went crazy and tried to rip reality itself by running at incredible speeds around the globe, with the flash chasing after him. With their combined speeds,they both created a 'rip' in the time . Barry escaped the ordeal okay but Zolomon got trapped in the time limbo, entering a comatose state.", Dinah replied.

The teenagers looked around. Barry always had appeared so cheery that they never would have guessed he had faced such dark events. But Bart had a slightly disgruntled look on his face.

"Wait a sec. You mean to tell me that this whole time, while I've been busting my ass out there to try and increase my speed , to be better, to be faster, there is this drug that can do it for me?", Bart remarked and for the first time since Kara had known him , he looked dead serious.

"Yes. But the flash has only used it once and wouldn't want anyone near that thing again. While it did give him increased speed, it also apparently was killing him slowly. If he had used it any longer, it would've been lethal to him .That drug isn't good news for anyone. ", Dinah replied as she found that Bart had taken the wrong message from this whole story.

"Yeah? But I could've used it so many times where you guys needed me to go faster. I could've been much faster and more efficient with this. I'm stuck in this timeline because I'm not fast enough to break the time barrier again. I can't go back to my time because I'm slower than I was. And my grandmps used the drug. Why shouldn't I?", Bart asked, standing up.

"Because It's not the right way to do it. Even the flash said so. Nobody has used that drug since . ", Kori replied.

"Hang on… You guys said this drug gave Barry faster speeds, right?", Kara replied, tried to put together the whole thing. Kori nodded.

"So if that happened, why can't it give a normal person the powers of a speedster? ", the blonde teenager inquired and this put the others into thought.

"That's …actually a valid point, Kara. Doctor Wells was the V-nine drug's main creator. He died in a car accident over a year ago but Eliza Harmon, his intern at the time helped him with the manufacturing. I think she still works at s.t.a.r labs . Maybe that may be a good place to start looking for clues on our mystery speedster.", Dinah replied.

"Great. I'll go train .. The _right way._ ", Bart remarked with a slight edge to his voice. It was evident that he was pissed off about the fact that there was a special chemical that could make anyone go faster. There was nothing special about him or Wally and Barry anymore then.

"Kyle, Jaime, Gar. Why don't you two accompany Bart? ", Kori remarked as they watched the brown haired speedster storm off.

"Yes ma'am.", Kyle remarked as the three of them left.

"I'm going to central city to try and talk with Eliza.", Dinah remarked as she got up

"I'll help.", Kori added as she got up to go change her clothing.

"I might as well come with you.", Kara added as she followed through. She didn't want to sit around in an empty tower.

* * *

Bart , Jaime, Garfield and Kyle were standing in a forest clearing in one of the nearby deciduous forests of the of them stood in their respective suits. The ground on which they stood were littered with pebbles and over five hundred feet below was a raging river of rapid waters that seemed more threatening to Bart than some of the criminals he had faced in this timeline.

Bart peeked out over the cliff that they were standing on and he began to have second thoughts about this training exercise.

"I didn't look this deep on the map.", Garfield stated as he peered around.

"Now who's brilliant idea was it to train me here?", Bart asked hotly, turning to his friends, who all shrugged.

"Well, you've gotta be faster than our mystery speedster. Maybe plummeting to your death in a five hundred foot abyss is a good enough motivation to get you to get there.", Kyle replied nonchalanctly.

"Anyway.",Jaime replied, looking at the tablet that the arm extensions from his beetle body suit was holding for him as he glanced at it .

"According to this module that Barry gave you, you've got to be travelling at …this speed.. Not sure what that means.", Jaime finished with a shrug as he turned the tablet so that Bart could have a look at it.

"Mach three point five . ", Bart exclaimed .

"I understand if you're getting cold feet, fastest boy alive.", Kyle remarked, teasing Bart, which the speedster didn't take to.

"Not crash,Bro. Not crash at all. This is canyon is almost a hundred foot wide.", Bart pointed to the other end of the canyon of rocky water falls, where another rocky cliff stood, protruding outwards.

"Taking the drug would be much more simpler than all this nonsense.", Bart remarked hotly as he walked over to his starting point , which was a few feet away from the cliff end.

"It may be. But you heard what Kori and Dinah said. Barry himself isn't proud of what he did. I'm sure he wouldn't want you to make the same mistake he did.", Jaime replied.

"Yeah? I don't see how doing something to become faster is a bad thing.", Bart snapped back.

"Just look at it this way. If you get faster naturally, you won't need no damn speed drug to be the fastest bipedal alive.", Garfield chimed in .

"At least someone know how to talk when you're about to run over a goddamn canyon.", Bart hissed at the others as Kyle shrugged.

Bart bent down into a racing position, with his fingers lightly touching the floor . He focused hard on the area ahead, where he needed to get to .

Then, in a burst of speed, Bart made the dash. The others witnessed the streak of yellow lightning as Bart raced towards the cliff side in the blink of an eye.

As he neared the cliff edge, he kicked off with his right foot and gained substantial height and as the others watched, the streak of yellow lightning flew across the sky.

He was twenty feet from the start side. Thirty feet. Forty feet.

Then, it all went south. He made the grave mistake of glancing down mid jump and it did the damage but shaking his concentration. And when he lost his concentration, it sent him spiralling not where he needed to be , but towards the wet heap of mossy rock that was the cliff side . He plummeted towards the dangerous rapids and bone cracking rocks .

"This is so not going to end well..", Bart muttered as he closed his eyes, waiting for the impact.

But it never came. As he slowly opened his eyes, he found himself lying on an emerald green bed that was floating mid air. Looking up, he spotted Kyle hovering down to his side in full lantern uniform with his right arm outstretched in front of him, his green lantern ring gleaming on his fist in the midday sun.

"Really? You coulda imagined up anything to catch me and you come up with a bed?", Bart snarked.

"You're welcome.", Kyle simply replied with a teasing grin as he hovered the both of them back to the safety of the cliff side .

 **/**

 _S.T.A.R LABS, CENTRAL CITY, 13:05 EDT_

"Wow. I thought TV shows just exaggerated the stuff about scientists always wearing white lab coats. I guess I was wrong. These guys really do wear those things all the time. I think I just saw two guys going into the restroom with those coats on.", Kara whispered as she and Dinah walked through the sixth detention level hallway of the s.t.a.r labs facility in central city.

Barry wasn't in town , since he and Superman had been called away on some League mission to Vlativa in Europe.

"Keep your head in the game, Kara. And don't say anything. ", Dinah ordered sternly as she led the way with Kara following through. Kori was waiting in the car, since her green eyes would be dead giveaway about her identity. She couldn't be seen with Dinah and Kara while they weren't in their suits, so she waited behind in her van.

Kara was wearing her usual sleeveless blue sweatshirt with baggy pants and woolen boots. She had her hair up in a ponytail . Dinah was wearing a black leather jacket over black ripped jeans .

The entire area was pungent with the smell of strong chemicals and it affected Kara more than Dinah, since her sense of smell was greatly enhanced. The black and white tiling on the floor reminded one of a giant chess board .

"Here.", Dinah stated as she turned right and pushed open a transparent glass door.

They entered a lab that had four transparent glass walls around . Three silvery metallic slabs and tables lined the room with all sorts of chemicals being worked up , with fumes rising up .

And in the midst of all this chemical mess stood a blonde girl of short stature. She had her hair tied into a braided topknot and she, like all the other scientists, had her white lab coat on.

"Doctor Eliza Harmon?", Dinah spoke suddenly, sounding very authoritative.

At her name being called, Eliza whipped around, her eyebrows raised in mild surprise. She had the lab goggles on her face but Kara could see her bright blue eyes and prominent eyebrows. Her squarish face was set and she had a very button-like nose with freckles lining her didn't look too old either. She looked like she was in her early twenties, a the most.

"Yes?", the woman replied.

As an answer, Dinah pulled out a black, leathery, crest and flipped it open for the woman to see.

"I'm detective Laurel Lance, Central city police department,ma'am. ", she remarked in a calm, collected voice, leaving Kara completely flabbergasted.

"And this is my intern, CSI Kara Danvers. ", Dinah remarked, nodding to Kara, who waved slightly.

"What..Ah…What can I do for you, officers?", Eliza Harmon replied, a little confused but still managing to give them both a smile.

"I'm here because of recent sighting in the vicinity of a red blur . A speedster, to be more exact. We don't know who it is .", Dinah began.

"Ah! Yes. I've seen the video on youtube. The flash's gone cuckoo, I guess. Central city's great hero becomes a new villain. Not the first time it's happened in crime fighting history, if I'm correct.", Eliza remarked as she walked around with a clipboard and a beaker that contained a bubbling blue opaque liquid.

"We think it's the flash too. But we need to gather evidence before we can point any fingers at anyone. Particularly at a meta human . ", Dinah remarked, catching Kara off guard. She was indeed a master undercover agent, agreeing where you know they were wrong.

"So what brings you here? Particularly to my lab?", Eliza inquired, a little perturbed.

"We have sources that tell us about how Doctor Wells, your former mentor, created a speed drug for the flash to use to stop a criminal named Zoom. And-", Dinah began before Eliza cut across her.

"Ah. I know where you're going. You think I may have the drug here or something?", Eliza remarked, appearing a little affronted.

"Not exactly , no. We just need to know, on record, whether the flash or anybody else came to you for the drug recently. ", Dinah replied.

"Oh. Then ..no. Doctor Wells was really the brains that created the formula and he pretty much destroyed all traces of the drug in the lab afterwards. So I really can't help you there.I wish I could.", Eliza replied.

As she spoke, she noticed that Kara was looking around with squinted eyes.

"You're free to look around the lab if you like.", Eliza replied , smiling at Kara.

Unknown to Eliza, Kara had been scanning the area with X ray vision to see if there was anything suspicious. So far, nothing came up.

"No..It's..fine.I was just.. lookin around at all this fancy chemistry stuff you've got goin on.", Kara replied .

"Thank you, Doctor Harmon. Sorry for taking your time. ", Dinah remarked and both of them turned and began walking away as Eliza turned back to her work.

As soon as they exited her lab and was out of earshot, Kara turned to Dinah.

"I checked the place. There was nothing there. What do we do?", Kara asked.

"For now, we take her for her word.", Dinah replied.

As they continued walking, a smile crept up Kara's face.

"Where did you get a fancy police badge? And Laurel Lance?", Kara asked with an amused expression.

"Come on.", Dinah smiled , waving her off as the two of them entered the elevator.

* * *

 _TITANS TOWER, 16:30 EDT_

Kara, Dinah and Kori entered the titans tower common room after a three hour drive from central city to find the four boys lounging around on the couches with seemingly disgruntled expression on their of the lot, Bart looked most irritated and he was not his usual cheery self.

"So how'd it go?", Kara asked, dropping down on the couch next to Bart.

"It was a total bust. The guy almost got himself killed jumping across a canyon.", Kyle replied as Dinah and Kori took their respective seats on the couch. Dinah cocked her eyebrow.

"And who's brilliant idea was it to jump across a canyon?", the blonde justice leaguer inquired as the guys exchanged looks, staying silent.

"Anyway, did you guys find anything?", Garfield inquired, trying to change the topic.

"Nothing yet. We did visit the scientist from s.t.a.r labs but she seemed to have checked out okay. I scanned around, there weren't any radioactive spikes nearby. ", Kara replied .

"So it's a bust on both sides.", Garfield groaned, pulling at his hair.

"Maybe not..", Kyle muttered ,his eyes fixed on his smartphone.

"What 're you saying?", Dinah remarked.

"Social media for the win! Our mystery speedster's over in National city creating Havoc.", Kyle exclaimed, appearing a little too excited as he switched on the flatscreen TV in the room, switching to the local news channel and sure enough, was live footage of a red streak of lightning zipping around the roadway, going in and coming out of buildings in the blink of an eye.

" _More and more reports are coming from live witnesses on the spot describing a red blur that coincides with the flash's appearance. No one has managed to snap a picture that will confirm the theory for sure but as more reports and footages come in, the unthinkable is becoming more of a solid reality.",_ the male news anchor was saying on the screen.

"Bart . Wait. We can't just-", Kori began saying frantically but it was too late, by the time they had turned to him, a gust of strong wind blew past them and a red streak of lightning exited the building.

"Kidflash versus the Evil Flash.I've so gotta get some live footage to post online!", Garfield remarked with a gleeful look on his face before cowering under a stern glare that Dinah gave him.

/

Bart sped through the streets of downtown San Francisco. Now he was past the city border. Now he was speeding through Midway city, a red streak, a red blur. He didn't know. He didn't care. He just wanted to get there and stop this speedster who was wreaking havoc. He hadn't told anyone why he had come through the time barrier. Everyone thought he was just a time traveling tourist. But he had omitted the whole truth. He couldn't have his grandfather helping him and messing up the timeline further than he already had. But then again, the timeline that he was from was already messed up an uninhabitable as it was.

He came screeching to a halt , right in the middle of the four-way lane and looked around. National City. He was here. It took him under five minutes but he was here.

Just then, as he tried to locate his target, a red blur of lightning sped past him. The speedster.

In a swift motion, Bart spun on his heel and followed the blur through, two yellow streaks of lightning that sped around the roadways of National city . Bart clenched his teeth and reached his hand out as he was neck and neck with the speedster.

Then, suddenly, the speedster changed course and headed straight toward the empty baseball stadium in the city, with Bart giving chase.

Bart came screeching to a suddenly halt, sending up the dust of the ground around him to find the speedster standing in front of him, about thirty feet away .The speedster's face was vibrating so Bart could see or make out his features.

"Who the hell are you!?", Bart yelled in frustration across the field. The speedster remained silent.

"Not much of a talker, are we?", Bart replied as the mystery speedster continued to stare at him from afar .

"Fine. Let's dance.", Bart proclaimed and burst forward, yellow streaks of lightning eliciting off of him. Simultaneously, the speedster did the same action, charging straight at each other in the middle of the field.

They were nearing. Nearing. Close. A feet away.

Then, upon collision, the mystery speedster simply increased his speed drastically, taking Bart by surprise. As a result, the speedster ended up catching him off balance and flipped him over on his feet, throwing him over.

Seemingly shocked, Bart lay there, where he had been beaten, on his back, staring up at the figure of the speedster . What shocked him the most was not the fact that he had been beaten. Not that he didn't know who this person was. What shocked him the most was the fact that it was someone who he certainly not expected. The speedster wasn't a he. It was a she.

As a result of an increase in her speed, she had lost control of her vibrations that blurred her face and Bart could easily make out the features. The bright blue eyes that glared at him mockingly. The dirty blonde hair that fell to her waist length.

She stood in a red suit that looked eerily similar to Barry's. It looked like a female version of the flash's suit, only with the top of the mask cropped off like Bart's was, exposing the hair outside.

"You're..a woman? I mean..Not that I'm sexist or anything but.. I've never seen a female speedster in this timeline.", Bart huffed, still in slight shock.

"Not fast enough, Kidflash.", the woman simply stated with an edge to her voice.

Bart grit his teeth and jumped up to his feet.

The two of them then burst into red blurs again, speeding across the stands and the corridors of the stadium at incredible speeds, with Bart chasing after the woman .

She then led him straight back into the center of the field and screeched to a halt as he came speeding after her. In a fluid motion, she spun around and landed a solid kick on Bart's shin, tripping him over.

Bart tumbled a few feet as he slowed down , rolling on the ground . As he lay there, the speedster burst forward and kicked him hard on his face.

"Why do you dress up like the flash? And who the hell are you?!", Bart yelled as he lay there . She may be female, but getting hit by another speedster was painful to a speedster. One of the few flaws of having the speedforce.

"What I want is for you to stay out of my way, kid.", the woman hissed before she sped away, leaving Bart on the ground, a confused look on his face ,clutching his rib area .

"Oh, boy. Just what I needed. Another crazy speedster.", Bart panted as he lay there, the evening sun staring down at him.

/

"I thought you speedsters can heal yourself quickly.", Kyle replied,munching on some popcorn as he flung it into his mouth.

Bart was no back at the tower, having the cuts on his face dressed by Dinah as he sat on the couch in the common room.

"We can vibrate our bodies and fix bone and muscle tissue. Not injuries induced by other speedsters. There's a difference.", Bart remarked, munching on an energy bar himself.

"So you do not know who this person was?", Kori inquired as she helped Dinah.

"Not a clue. Trajectory was a blonde female with blue eyes, wearing a female version of the flash suit. Nothing else I could pick out.", Bart replied .

"Trajectory? She already named herself?", Kara scoffed with an incredulous expression, crossing her arms.

"Nope. I named her. I thought it was a cool, out of wack name for a crazed speedster. And it's a physics term.", Bart replied, as the others looked at him with cocked eyebrows.

"What? Don't tell you guys don't name your enemies. ", Bart replied , jumping off the couch , walking towards the dining table.

"We don't…actually. Most of them just give themselves wack names.I mean, did you really think that a guy like Batman named the Joker, 'the joker' ?", Jaime replied.

"Wow. Never really thought about that.", Bart replied in a matter-of-fact voice.

"But I still can't believe that a guy as fast as the flash got his ass handed to him by a newbie speedster.", Garfield snorted as he took a fistfull of the popcorn from Kyle's bucket, resulting in the teenaged green lantern giving him a glare that he was oblivious to.

"I could've got her by now if I had that speed drug. But I didn't and now Trajectory's still running around creating havoc.", Bart replied in an irritated manner.

"I've already told you, Bart. Barry doesn't want you anywhere near that thing.", Dinah replied.

"Right. And tell me why I shouldn't be?", Bart asked, squinting his eyes to make clear his disgruntlement. He had always looked up to Barry and now….

"If everyone else is cheating, why can't I? Why can't I level the playing field?If this drug can make me faster the easier way, why can't I use it? Even Barry used it. ", Bart retorted vehemently.

"You want to take a shortcut? Right? Do it the easier way? It's your decision. ", Dinah replied, changing her tone to a stern manner.

"But remember this. You lose…who you are, every time you compromise your values. The drug can have adverse affects, get you hooked on it and you could lose a chunk of your humanity every time you fall for the temptation. All you need to beat her is yourself, Bart. That's all you need.", Dinah remarked with a serious expression.

As everyone watched, Bart merely snorted.

"I'm sorry. That's really good, coming from you guys.", Bart replied.

"So don't be like us. Aim to be better than us. Better than we ever were. ", Dinah replied before she turned and walked away out of the door.

"I'm gonna go run the training module my own this time.", Bart remarked and followed her out the door, leaving the others in silence .

"Was it just me, or did things get really serious up in here?", Garfield remarked, scratching his head.

* * *

 _S.T.A.R LABS, CENTRAL CITY, 23:05 EDT_

Doctor Eliza Harmon worked frantically, her hair all messed up and frizzy as beads of sweat trickled down her pungent smell of fizzing chemicals plagued the very air around her and she could hardly breath inside the claustrophobic laboratoryAll her co-workers had already left for home but she stayed. She stayed late most nights, working to finish the chemical bio-component for her part of the deal .He visitor would be here any minute now .

As she glanced into the microscope , she heard a familiar, cold, raspy voice behind her.

"Good evening, Doctor Harmon.", Lady Shiva stated, almost shocking Eliza as she whipped around .

"Oh…it's…just.. just you.", the blonde woman stated. Shiva cocked an eyebrow.

"Were you expecting someone else?", the assassin remarked.

"No. Not at all. The component is almost ready. It's just that.. today I was visited by two cops and I could tell that one of them, the CSI officer was almost onto me. ", Eliza wheezed.

"And did…they suspect your involvement?", Shiva remarked as she looked around the place in a calculating manner.

"No! Not at all! They were just here because they, like everybody else, thinks the flash has gone rogue.", Eliza quickly replied.

Shiva didn't say anything for a few prolonged seconds, merely staring at the scientist.

"You don't look so well, Doctor.", she stated.

"I… I'm just.. really ,really tired.", Eliza admitted, rubbing the sweat off her forehead.

"I see. And have the…. _medication_ been helpful to relieve the stress?", Shiva stated.

"Oh yes. The problem is… I think I may be getting to reliant on it . ", Eliza stated.

"But it hasn't bothered you before. That was our deal, doctor Harmon. You give us the chemical component and we provide you with the requirements needed for you to create your V-9 .", Shiva stated.

"And it still is our deal. It's just..this was supposed to fix things …but I can't stop thinking that it's making things worse. ", Eliza stated as she collected the four vials of blue crystals and walked over to Shiva, handing them to her.

"But doesn't it feel good?", Shiva stated as she handed her the chemical samples she required to manufacture for her stress medication.

"I…I don't…yes.", Eliza stated as if something, some unknown force within her was driving her, was yearning to experience that rush again. It did feel good. So good.

"Well. I'll leave you to it, doctor. And just between us, you might want to take the night off. Have a little fun. Blow off steam.. ", Shiva stated with a provoking smile before she exited the door, accompanied by a masked armed henchman, leaving Eliza to her inner demons.

As she watched Shiva exit the building below, Eliza realized that she was now alone in the was no one around. All of a sudden, she felt her mind pulling, succumbing to her inner needs. Wants. Desires.

She wanted it again. She wanted to feel that incredible rush she felt each time she took it.

Slowly, she began inching towards the containment cabinet that she had locked up her last stock in. Suddenly, she halted.

"No. T-There isn't enough. It needs to be saved for a later date.", Eliza mumbled to herself as she bit her lip. She tried hard to try and forget it but that surge of power was tempting, alluring and no matter what she tried, she couldn't resist the pull of the drug.

And before she knew what was happening, she had already opened the cabinet and had injected the red liquid into her blood stream.

And boy did it feel good. It felt incredible. The rush she felt surging through her. So this is what the Flash felt everytime. It was incredible. The feeling.

And then, powered by the Velocity-Nine , she sped away, a red blur .

A streak of yellow lightning racing off in the darkness of the night.

* * *

Kara watched behind the profane glass as Bart ran on the manual treadmill, a red blur with lightning streaking off of him . She had never seen him so serious. She had always seen only his goofy, quippy side and didn't know he had a more serious aspect to him as well.

"How long has he been at it?", Jaime inquired, entering the room.

"I'm not sure but I've already eaten through five donuts and he's still running. ", Kara replied.

Just then, the speaker fitted in the room went online and Kori's voice came through.

" _Everyone, please come to the common room. I think we've found out where Trajectory is.",_ She said . Kara and Jaime whipped around to find Bart screeching to a halt and in the blink of an eye, he had already zipped out of the room.

/

By the time the two of them got to the common room, Bart was already there, munching on an energy bar , his eyes fixed on the giant television screen. Dinah, Kori, Kyle and Garfield were also already there and they were staring up at the screen , with the news channel switched on.

The screen showed the news anchor, Iris West , on the scene in a helicopter as her cameraman captured the footage of what was clearly a continuous streak of yellow lightning zipping in circles around various points of central city, creating mini tornadoes that spun around, throwing cars and motorcycles around, damaging nearby shops and households.

" _We are on the scene as the speedster, whom eyewitnesses claim to be the flash, is creating havoc,vandalizing the public speedster seems to be creating storms with their speed. There hasn't been a confirmed report on whether or not this is actually, in fact the scarlet speedster but all signs point In that direction. We advise local citizens to stay out of the streets and in their homes as the conditions outside seem to be less than ideal. Back to you in the studio.",_ Iris reported.

"Bart , you cannot just go waltzing out there. It's what Trajectory wants.", Kori pleaded but Bart had a determined look on his face as he pulled his mask over his face.

"Watch me.", he simply stated ,and before anyone could stop him or make him see the rational side of things, the speedster was already gone in a flash of yellow lightning.

"Damn it .", Dinah cursed .

"I can't call In the league. Most of them are in the watchtower, dealing with the Hive crisis. They'd take way too long to get to Central city in time. ", Dinah replied, checking her league comms system.

"I'll go and help Bart. I can get there fast enough. ",Kara replied, switching to her blue kryptonian supergirl uniform.

"It's too dangerous. ", Kori protested.

"I'm half kryptonian. I'm the fastest here besides Bart.I can get there in time. Trust me. And I can take a hit.", Kara scoffed as she floated off the ground.

"She has a point. She's the only one out of us fast enough to get all the way to Central city in time. ", Dinah replied thoughtfully.

"Make sure you stop Bart in case he does something stupid.", Dinah replied , handing Kara an earpiece.

/

Just like it had been shown on the news channel, in the absence of Barry, Central city was in complete chaos. Trajectory was sprinting in various directions, upturning vehicles, destroying roadways by running too fast on them and creating min tornadoes. If nobody knew that a speedster was doing all this, it looked like a powerful hurricane was hitting Central city.

Bart came screeching to a halt, skidding over the tar road .

"We are totally feeling the mode..", the teenaged speedster mumbled to himself as he glanced around at the destruction that Trajectory was creating. Electricity poles were sparking randomly due to overload of kinetic energy and the powerlines in the district had been burnt off due to Trajectory's speed.

Just then, a flash of lightning burst in front of him and Trajectory stood before him, a maddened grin on her face. Her blonde hair billowed in the wind and yellow electricity crackled momentarily around her.

"I knew that If I make enough noise, I should be able to catch the flash's attention. I guess I wasn't making enough noise . You don't seem like the flash, Shortstack.", Trajectory hissed.

"I'm not him but I'm still going to kick your ass,lady.", Bart retorted, cracking his knuckles.

"That remains to be seen.. ", Trajectory replied, looking him up and down as if sizing him up.

"What the hell do you want? Besides a super fast butt whooping?', Bart yelled.

"I just wanna have some fun, what do you say? You game?", Trajectory replied with a smirk.

"You just picked the wrong speedster to mess with, lady.", Bart proclaimed and burst forward in a flash of lightning. Almost instantly, Trajectory did the same and soon, the two blurs of red and yellow were zipping across the blocks of the city, making hard turns at each corner, with Trajectory leading the way, cackling out loud as Bart gave chase.

"You're not fast enough, Kidflash. But you can keep up.I'm impressed.", Trajectory cackled, mocking him as they ran , two streaks of lightning zipping across the city blocks.

Bart roared as he caught up to her, shoving onto her shoulder with his own, changing their direction. The two of them headed straight for a skyscraper of a building and soon , the two speedsters were running up the side of the building .

Up ahead, they spotted what appeared to be the joint ridge of the office building where it connected to another building and they both raced off the edge of it.

While mid air, they both began landing punches on each other, kicking and punching as they tumbled back down to earth .

As they neared another glass office building, they stopped their punching in order to land a proper footing on the building side and once they both had achieved it, they were racing back down the side of the building in a tilted path, down towards the pavement , where they continued to run with lightning crackling off of them.

Bart was now running neck and neck with Trajectory and he glanced sideways as she returned the action with a manic grin. He pushed himself rightward, trying to knock her off her feet but she simply increased her speed, dodging his movement before she slowed back down to his speed.

"Where the hell did you come from?!", Bart yelled as he tried the similar action again, yielding the same result as before.

"Let's just say that I've have some special friends capable of doing marvelous things for me.", Trajectory replied with a smirk as she looked forward and increased her speed, leaving Bart in her dust. Then, all of a sudden, she flipped around and dug her foot into the ground, screeching to a sudden halt with her right palm lightly touching the roadway beneath her.

"Okay. Game time's over, lady.", Bart yelled as he sprinted straight at her.

In a fluid motion, she simply side stepped Bart, tripping him and sending him to the ground. Bart's rage was blinding his creativity with the speed. Bart tumbled over a few feet across the roadway as his body slowed down .

As he slowly picked himself up, panting, Trajectory shot towards him in a burst of speed and began landing quick punches on his rib and abdomen area. This continued for over five seconds but to a speedster, five seconds is an eternity. With a final punch against his jawline, she sent him tumbling backwards.

"You're not as fun as you claim to be, kid flash. Maybe If I break you and leave you at your mentor's doorstep, the scarlet speedster should come looking for me and _then_ we can have a real game. What do you say?", Trajectory said in a taunting voice as Bart glared up at her.

"You're really starting to irritate me, lady. And that's an achievement.", Bart wheezed as he got up back to his feet.

Trajectory, who had been grinning at him so far suddenly dropped her smile into a dangerous scowl.

"I'll send your regards to the flash with your dead body.", Trajectory hissed and was about to run towards him to attack again when a red and blue blur whizzed past Bart and landed a solid blow on Trajectory, knocking her off her feet, sending her flying back , straight through a building wall and out of sight.

"Did anyone ever tell you to slow down a little? If not, I'm saying it now. ", Kara replied as she gave him the stink eye.

"Thanks but I didn't need you to help me. This is speedster against speedster. You're pretty fast but no offense, I can run circles around you.", Bart remarked as she handed him an earpiece .

"Hey. You may be pissed off or something. But I don't care. Don't take it out on me. I'm here to help you. ", Kara remarked and before she opened her mouth to say anything else, a red blur sped towards her from where Trajectory had vanished and caught her head on and in the blink of an eye, both of them seemingly vanished.

/

Trajectory used her built up momentum to send Kara shooting straight through two building walls.

As Kara got to her feet in the crumbling mess of bricks and dust around her, the speedster shot towards her and began raining down punches , her hands moving so fast it was a red blur. When Kara tried to punch out at her, Trajectory simply zipped out of the way before returning in another direction and began landing blows.

The speedster's punches didn't hurt Kara but she could definitely feel the effect of the speed with which she was being hit.

Then, in a spur motion, Trajectory kicked out at Kara , sending her tumbling back into the wall of the building that they had currently crashed into.

Trajectory caught Kara by the hem of her cape and raised her hand, vibrating it incredibly fast, ready to send it shooting through Kara's chest to kill her . Then, all of a sudden, the speedster stopped and simply stared at Kara's face. She recognized it.

"You? You're the new Kryptonian I've been hearing rumors about? I wonder if detective Laurel Lance knows about your double life, Alien.", Trajectory replied and for a brief second, Kara didn't understand what the speedster was rambling about. Then it hit her. There was only one person with whom Dinah had put up the ruse of being detective Laurel Lance.

And that was Doctor Eliza Harmon.

"Doctor Harmon?!", Kara exclaimed out in shock as Eliza smirked.

" You think pretty fast, Blondie. But how fast are you, really?", Eliza scoffed before she shot towards Kara in a blur of lightning and attempted to drive her vibrating hand through Kara's chest. But unfortunately, it didn't turn out as expected. Eliza wasn't able to phase her hand through Kara's body due to her invulnerable Kryptonian skin. Eliza ended up spraining her wrist and she backpedaled in pain , glaring up at Kara.

"I guess you didn't get the memo, doctor. Kryptonian's can't be beaten that easily.", Kara remarked as she began to advance forward.

"You're no fun at all.", Eliza scoffed as she began to vibrate her hand to heal herself and she quickly healed herself, standing back upright.

"See you in a bit , darling.", Eliza remarked in a taunting tone and zipped out of the area, with Kara flying behind, following her.

When Kara finally reached her, Eliza was already zipping around , back and forth across a over bridge as the people on it began running around , screaming in terror.

"Guys, I found out who Trajectory really is. ", Kara remarked into her earpiece as she watched the flash of yellow lightning zipping back and forth at the speed of light.

/

" _It's Doctor Eliza Harmon. She's the speedster. She recognized me from when I went with Black canary to question her earlier. ",_ Kara's voice crackled out of the comms unit as a realization dawned on Bart. He connected the dots. He had figured out how Doctor Harmon had access to the speedforce.

In a burst of speed, he sprinted in the direction of the S.t.a.r labs facility, where he knew the Velocity-nine speed drug that Eliza would be using was being kept.

/

" _Now that's a plot twist even I didn't see coming..",_ Kyle's voice mumbled through the comms unit.

" _Supergirl, what's doctor Harmon doing_?", Dinah's voice crackled through .

"I dunno. Uhm..She's on a bridge, running back and forth. She really embodies the word 'lunatic' doesn't she?", Kara replied into her earpiece.

Dinah, on the other side of the comms unit , who was sitting with the rest of the team on a JL air craft, speeding towards Central city, locked her system target on the inbuilt tracker on Kara's earpiece.

"Right. She's on the fifth avenue bridge. And she's not crazy for running back and forth ,Kara. She's creating friction on the road and if there's enough of it, she could destabilize the entire structure. ", Dinah remarked, a little hint of shock in her tone.

"What the…how is that even possible?!", Kara yelped.

"It doesn't matter how it's possible . It is. You need to get all those people out of there before that bridge collapses. Get on it, Supergirl! Now!", Dinah hissed into the comms system as the other titans on the air craft exchanged wide eyed bewildered looks.

"I hate physics.", Kara mumbled to herself as she shot towards the bridge.

Kara zipped around , a blur of red and blue, picking up upto five people per go as she zipped them off the bridge , out of harm's way.

But no matter how fast she went, she simply wasn't as fast as a speedster to move everyone out and to make things worse, as she flew people out, she noticed the tar road of the bridge beginning to crack and crumble as the bridge base began to overheat .

Kara immediately flew down underneath the bridge and pressed her palms flat against the underside of the structure and hovered in the same position, holding the bridge up.

"Guys! The bridge was giving way. I'm stuck here holding it up. Can't any of you get here in time? ", Kara yelled into her comms unit.

"Jaime and Kyle could try but I don't think they're fast enough. What about Bart? ", Dinah remarked into the transmitter .

"I don't know where he is. I can't see him . ", Kara grunted as she grit her teeth, holding the structure in place.

/

Bart stood in Doctor Eliza Harmon's glass walled laboratory, holding a vial of the opaque red liquid that was the speed drug and in his other hand was the injecting apparatus. He was moments away from injecting it into his body to give him extra speed to beat Trajectory.

Then, all of a sudden, his earpiece went active and Kara's voice crackled through.

" _Bart!? Bart!? I need help. Harmon's running up and down the avenue bridge and she's destabilizing the thing. I'm stuck here holding it up but there are civilians on this thing. Do you copy!?_ ".

Bart glanced down at the vial in his hand. If this thing could boost his speed and give him an edge, it would be worth it but at the same time, it could risk killing him, from what Barry had said.

Dinah's voice about losing his moral values if he took the drug echoed in his head as he stared down at the vial in his hand. It looked tempting. This liquid could give him the edge in finding his nemesis who was in hiding. It could help him beat Trajectory, who was also using the drug and it did make her two times faster than he was.

But there was a small voice in his head that protested and didn't want to give in to the pull.

He didn't know what made him do it, but Bart Allen made up his mind and dropped the glass vial onto the floor where it shattered, letting the liquid flow out.

He suddenly felt a sense of relief wash over him and he leaned back against the wall behind him, glancing down at the liquid as it trickled out.

/

Kara grit her teeth, holding the bridge up from underneath as Trajectory zipped back and forth, trying to destabilize it.

The teenaged kryptonian girl was also simultaneously shooting heat vision onto the giant metal railings that held the bridge up trying to weld it secure.

Back on the topside of the bridge, terrified civilians were all crowded around together , scared of moving forward as they could see the flash of yellow lightning zipping around them in the blink of an eye.

Then, out of nowhere, a second burst of lightning entered the area and began evacuating the people out of the bridge area, groups of three at a time.

Bart began zipping back and forth, moving the remaining civilians out of Trajectory's path as Kara worked to stabilize the bridge.

In a mere five seconds, Bart was done moving the people out of the area and when he turned around , his eyes picked up the streak of yellow lightning moving in his direction and before he could react,the streak caught him in the abdomen area and hauled him along as it streaked away.

/

The red streak stopped all of a sudden and sent Bart colliding straight into an alley wall behind him, where he sat there, clutching his arm, groaning from the pain of being hammered into a wall at the speed of sound.

"You're ruining all my fun, Kid.", Eliza breathed with a smirk on her face .

"You don't have to do this, doctor Harmon. The justice league can help you get better . I know the power the speed drug has over you. We can help you beat it.", Bart wheezed.

Trajectory looked surprised that he had figured out her real name.

"So you know who I am. Maybe you're not as dumb as I thought you'd be, kid.", she simply stated with a taunting edge. But Bart knew that Eliza was simply under the mental influence of the drug she was taking.

"Doctor Harmon. You have to stop. You have to stop doing this to yourself. That V-nine you keep injecting is gonna end up killing you.", Bart wheezed, standing up. A look of shock flitted across Trajectory's face as she realized that Bart had figured out how she could become a speedster.

She burst forward and pinned him against the wall, her face inches from his.

"How the hell did you know about it, kid?", Trajectory hissed.

'How I know about it doesn't matter. What matters is that I know what's happening with you. You have to let us help you, doctor Harmon.", Bart remarked.

"I don't need anyone's help. As you can see, I'm perfectly capable of kicking you ass, boy.", Trajectory replied.

Bart let out a deep breath.

"Alright, lady. Don't say I didn't warn ya. ", he simply stated and began vibrating rapidly and before Eliza knew what was happening, Bart had phased himself out of the wall.

"What the..", Trajectory mumbled to herself and zipped out of the building, to find Bart racing on ahead towards the s.t.a.r labs facility. Once Bart had figured out how she had access to the speedforce, he also realized that while she may be faster than him, she wasn't as used to or experienced with the speed as he was. And he was using it to his advantage.

The streaks of lightning raced through the streets , shattering window panes and upturning vehicles as they bolted by.

Both of them began landing punches on each other and unlike before, Eliza was not able to simply dodge out of the way, for the effects of the speed drug in her system had begun to wear off, and Bart could tell.

Both of them changed direction and raced up the side of the tallest tower in the city, running up the glass walls , a red and yellow blur.

Due to the speed at which they were running, both of them involuntarily sent themselves flying up the edge of the building rooftop and they were locked in combat, punching each other.

They only stopped when they began falling back downwards, screeching to a halt on the rooftop.

"Doctor Harmon. You have to stop. This will only end badly for you. That drug is making you lose who you are. Look at you!", Bart exclaimed.

"SHUT UP!", Eliza yelled and shot towards him. Again, both of them were no racing on the roof top in a zig zag manner, with Eliza chasing after Bart, trying to catch him .

As Bart raced, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Eliza gaining on him and in a fluid motion, he changed direction , confusing her, making her loose her footing. As a result, she tumbled around a few dozen feet on the large area , only stopping once she hit the safety railing of the roof top.

"It's over.", Bart panted as he walked upto her.

It's never over.", she wheezed as she felt the drug's influence wearing off.

Then, she tried to lash out at him, only to have him sidestep out of the way before grabbing onto her suit and sending her tumbling back to her position by rotating on his heel.

Bart noticed that something seemed off about her. Her eyes were slightly red and her lips were slightly cracked. There was a deprived look in her blue eyes and her hair was all frizzy.

Then, in a desperate last resort, she pulled out what looked like a silvery gun and it held a vial of the red velocity-nine drug in it's capsule and she held it to her arm, ready to inject herself with a helpless look in her eyes before Bart called out her name, stopping her mid action.

"Doctor Harmon! Wait!", Bart panted and it got her attention as she glanced up at him, the needle of the injection inches from her arm.

"Stop doing this to yourself…You don't actually wanna hurt anyone. ", Bart remarked, slowly.

"You don't know anything about me, kidflash.", Eliza panted.

"No , I know enough. You're a brilliant scientist who just needs help with your addiction.I know you're not a bad person. This is the V-nine influencing you.", Bart remarked.

"I also know how it hard it is to not give in. I was there in your lab and I almost did this same thing to myself. And If I could resist, so can you.", Bart completed.

Doctor Harmon didn't say thing, simply looking up at him , panting.

"You're not well, doctor. We can help you. Let us help you .",Bart added, thinking he had got through to her, and for a moment he did. Doctor Harmon glanced down at the injection apparatus in her hand and wanted to listen to him. But it was too late. She was already hooked on it.

Before he could stop her, she drove the needle into her arm and released the drug into her body. Yellow electricity crackled around her body as the speedforce in her strengthened again. Bart cursed and looked around, defeated.

As the rush coarsed through her, Doctor Harmon stood up, feeling rejuvenated again.

"How does it feel to know that you will never be as fast as I am because you were simply too weak to take the next step?", Trajectory remarked with a smirk.

"Catch me if you can, Kid.", Doctor Harmon remarked and in a burst of speed, she raced off the edge of the building and began sprinting down the side, with Bart giving chase behind her.

Soon, they were both racing on the streets, two streaks of lightning zipping around the city blocks at the speed of light. As they raced, Bart realized that something was wrong with doctor Harmon this time, besides her unhinged behavior.

Doctor Harmon was over ten feet away from Bart when it began to happen, a yellowish glow of vibrant lightning began to form around her, streaking off her own lightning as she raced, oblivious to it. Then, as Bart watched, giving chase, Trajectory's form began to crackle haphazardly.

The lightning grew more and more volatile and as he watched, Doctor Harmon's form began to evaporate , growing fainter and fainter until she seemingly vanished into thin air, her lingering scream of terror echoing through the air after she had vanished. Eliza Harmon had entered the speed force due to the incredibly fast speed at which she was running. She had the powers of a speedster but didn't know it's limits nor did she know how to use them properly.

"Holy…", Bart whispered as he came screeching to a halt, looking at the spot where the doctor had vanished. She was gone.

* * *

 _TITANS TOWER, 01:35 EDT_

"So you're saying doctor Harmon simply…vanished into thin air?", Batman inquired,a little in disbelief.

Bruce and Barry stood in the common room of the titan's tower, with Black canary and the rest of the titans. Bart had just finished telling them everything that had happened in Central city after Dinah had told them what all had happened the whole day while she was on monitor duty, everything from the fact that she had told the others about how Barry had beaten Zoom.

"See, that's an oversimplification.", Bart remarked as he munched on an energy bar.

"What really happened was –", Bart began before Barry finished his sentence.

"Eliza Harmon ran too fast that she got sucked into the speedforce. And now she's stuck there.", Barry commented as he leaned against the wall, his eyes fixed on Bart. Nobody had seen him enter the room.

He could probably guess what his future grandson thought about him since he knew that Barry had taken the speed drug to beat Zoom.

"Right.", Bart mumbled.

"I tried to help her, to talk her out of doing it, but she was too reliant on it. She couldn't stop herself. It wasn't her fault. ", Bart continued on.

"Bart. It's okay. We know you tried your best. What happened to Eliza Harmon was a lost cause. It's not your fault.", Dinah replied solemnly.

"We'll look into the case for now and update you all in case we find anything new. For now, good work.", Bruce stated , resulting in Bart letting out a snort. He still had a piece of his mind to share with Barry.

"Hey, I helped out a lot too!",Kara piped up, looking around . Kori and the other grown ups looked at her with raised eyebrow.

"Speaking was the wrong decision to make. I see that now.." ,Kara mumbled as she looked away from the unreadable expression Batman gave her.

Then,Batman and Black canary proceeded to walk forward, stopping midway to turn and see that Barry hadn't moved.

"You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up. ", Barry replied. The two justice leaguers didn't say anything but they nodded and left the room with the other teenagers. Now that the two of them were alone, Barry walked up to his grandson and the two of them stood around, awkwardly.

For a few moments, there was a dull silence that crept into the room, with neither Allens uttering a word.

"So.. ", Barry began. "I'm guessing you're pretty mad at me..".

"That doesn't half of cover it. ", Bart snorted.

"Bart. I'm sorry .",Barry muttered.

"You know, if you were expecting some kind of heart-to-heart chat right now, you'd better save your breath, cause I'm not really in the mood. I don't wanna say anything bad to you that may or may not hurt our relationship.", Bart replied with an indifferent expression on his face as he munched on his bar with his free hand dug into his pant pocket.

Barry simply stared at him for a couple of seconds before letting out a sigh.

"Right…Well then.. I.. guess I'll talk to you later.", Barry replied, a little awkwardly.

"Yeah.", Bart nodded as Barry proceeded to walk towards the common room door.

Just before he opened the door, his palm inches away from the metallic handle, he paused.

"Bart..I- I'm proud.. of you for being the better person today and I know that you'll be a great Flash one day…It takes courage to save the day but it takes greater courage to say no and stand up for what you think is right.. ", Barry remarked, turning around to face Bart.

"And..I just.. wanted you to know.. that I never took the V-nine. I knew that I wouldn't be doing myself justice if I myself gave in and had done it the easier way. It may be easy to use it, but it it'll only hurt you and your loved ones in the long run .Wells made the drug for me but I never took it. Both Wells and I knew the danger the drug possessed . I beat Zoom with nothing but my own speed. And that's a flash fact. ",Barry stated before he flashed his grandson a smile and exited the door.

Bart stood there, as his head raced, trying to catch up to his heart, the energy bar inches away from his mouth . Then, a smile crept up his face.

* * *

Shiva stood the enormous hall that was lit up in flaming torches. A long, black, marble table was fixed into the center of the room and at the edge of it sat a man, shrouded in shadows, his elbows on the table with the fingers of each palm lightly touching each other. The hood of his dark cloak was drawn up and the pale white mask that covered his face gleamed under the light

"We have received the biological components as requested but we..have encountered a setback.", Shiva spoke calmly.

When man in the shadows didn't speak , so Shiva continued on.

"Doctor Harmon , the only one besides the late doctor Wells, who knew how to synthesize the bio-component for the weapon, is no more. ", The assassin stated.

"No need to worry. Our partners have the necessary resources that are capable of reverse engineering the component. We won't be needing the services of doctor Harmon anymore .. what of our young heroes?", a cold drauling voice spoke with a tone of slight amusement in it.

"The titans…got involved again.", Shiva stated.

"Hmm..I see..Once is mere happenstance. Twice is pure luck. Three times... is enemy action. ", the man , stated, blood red eyes glaring out of the thin slits on his mask.

* * *

 **Until next time, folks!**


	15. Chapter 15 -The Valentine Joke

**Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Fifteen - The Valentine Joke**

* * *

 _CENTRAL THERAPY UNIT, ARKHAM ASYLUM, FEBRUARY 13, 23:15 EDT_

The lightning crackled over the ominous scenery that surrounded the area. The dark skies and windy conditions made one think of old monster flicks. The very air in the compound felt dreary and claustrophobic.

His bright green hair sat on top of his head, slightly greasy and lacking any sense of hygiene. His bleached white skin was stretched across his gaunt face and his bright red lips moved up and down as he chewed on the crispy chips that he flung into his mouth. His sullen eyes gazed at the person sitting in front of him. The Joker had a bored expression on his face as he sat on the chair , holding the bag of crisps in his hand .

He had been abruptly visited by two guards of the asylum just over ten minutes ago and they had pulled a bag over his head and brought him out here, into a slightly constrained looking four walled room that was the size of a luxurious Janitor's room was mostly white, with tiled walls and flooring. It had a rather uninviting appeal about it.

Five men with blank expressions on their faces stood in the room, standing in a square formation, from wall to wall. They wore black tactical uniforms and they had a small crest on their chest that was striped with a yellow and black color coding , reminding one of a beehive. They all held armed shot guns in their hands.

Shiva sat across the small silvery metallic table from the joker, an unreadable expression on her face . Her palms were clasped out in front of her, rested on the table in a calm fashion.

The Joker swallowed the crisp in his mouth and cleared his throat.

"So let me get this straight. Your..little organization… has a problem.. And you want my skill set to…solve this problem for you?", the Joker inquired with a bored expression.

Shiva nodded silently.

"Are you upto the task?", the assassin asked quietly.

Just then, the Joker began to cough vehmently, as if he had a sore throat .

"May I have some water?", he asked nonchalantly and Shiva obliged, nodding to one of the men to hand him a glass of water.

As the man handed the joker a glass ,he dipped his head, taking a sip from the glass, slurping loudly as he did so. Then, taking everyone by surprise, he swiftly smashed the glass onto the table, shattering it so that it had jagged edges and then swung his arm around at the Hive officer who had just handed him the glass, slicing his neck open.

As the man's blood began to drizzle out, the joker reached to his vest and pulled out the shotgun . Cocking it backwards, the green haired lunatic began firing the bullets around the room with a gleeful expression, shooting down each of the officers one by one as they stood frozen in shock.

Once the floor was littered with bodies, the green haired clown looked around, as if admiring his work. He then pointed the gun at Shiva, who still sat there, calm as ever .

"You got yerself the man, pretty. ", the joker drawled, his mouth stretched from ear to ear in a mad grin, displaying his yellowing teeth.

Then, the clown prince of crime relaxed his grip on the rifle, tapping his chin as if he was deep in thought.

"Hmm. If we're gonna do this..I'm gonna need some new clothes. Daddy can't go waltzing around his city in this garbage. I've got a reputation to uphold! Oh. And I'm gonna need some guys..", the Joker stated, listing out his requirements on his fingers.

He then looked around at the mess of bodies around the room.

"Well…Not these guys… cause they're kinda..dead..", he stated in a bored expression before a gleeful expression crept over his face again.

"Heehehehehehe..HA!HAHAHAHA!", he began to cackle out loud madly, brandishing his gun as Shiva watched him calmly with a blank expression.

* * *

 _TITANS TOWER, FEBRUARY 14, 08:00 EDT_

Kara slowly opened up her eyes and rubbed them rather groggily as the alarm clock on her phone rang. She sat up on her bed and looked at her phone to shut the annoying buzzer off but something caught her eyes . Today was valentines day.

Her eyes shot wide open as her heart began beating fast. Her adrenaline began rushing through her body and she clambered out of bed, zipping around her room at super speeds, a blur, getting herself ready. Today was the day. She was going to confess her feelings to Dick Grayson.

He had never actually shown any feelings towards her and he was also a lot older than her. But if she never got it done with, she would never she?

She had been planning to confess to him on this particular day for a while now. She wanted him to be her valentine. Despite being determined to go through with it, she couldn't help but feel terrified at the same time. She had never actually confessed about her feelings to a boy before and though she didn't like to admit it(her pride wouldn't let her), she was a complete novice when it came to the romance department.

She stood in front of the mirror in her washroom for a couple of silent, anxious minutes as she stared at her reflection.

She wasn't wearing her usual baggy sleeveless sweatshirt and pants. Instead, for the first time, she was wearing a purple top that was cut low over her shoulders, with one end slung below her shoulder level. Paired with that, she had black leggings on. She had done up her hair into some popular girl hairdo that she had learnt how to do by watching a blogger on youtube.

Dick had just returned back to the tower last night and she wanted to look her best in front of him if she were to have any chance today. She was about to do something she had never done before and she felt stupid thinking about what she was about to do.

She reached down and picked up the puffy powderer of the powder box that she had just bought the other day(unkown to anyone). Taking a deep breath , she pursed her lips, closed her eyes and slammed the makeup apparutus onto her face, sending up a small cloud of powder dust around her face.

Kara coughed out as she waved her hand in front of her, trying to dispel the strong powdery scent that was stinging her nostrils.

Who was she kidding? She had no idea how to do this.

Groaning out loud, she turned and walked out her room, slamming the door behind her in frustration, breaking the knob of the door by accident.

/

"Why the hell are you guys staring at me?", Kara scoffed as she ate breakfast with the others.

Kara was seated on the breakfast table with Kyle, Bart, Raven , Jaime, M'gann and Garfield. Damian had already finished his breakfast and was in the training facility. Dick apparently hadn't gotten up yet and Kori was nowhere to be seen. The titans were all eyeing her with cocked eyebrows but Garfield had a more lovestruck expression in his eyes .

"Nothing…You just…look sorta different. ", Jaime mumbled .

"I can't put my finger on what's new. Have you taken a bath for the first time?", Bart asked sarcastically with a grin on his face.

" Shut up or I'll shove a piece of my fist down your throat, Allen.", Kara hissed with a glare.

"I don't know what you did but I don't care…You look great…", Garfield remarked sheepishly .

"Um…thanks…I guess.", Kara muttered, a little perturbed. She was not oblivious to the fact that Garfield had an obvious crush on her but he wasn't the guy that she liked..And she didn't know how to turn him down kindly without hurting his feelings.

/

It was Eleven in the morning and Kara had dragged Kyle and Jaime over with her to the city so that they could help her pick the perfect gift for Dick when she was going to tell him about how she felt.

"You know…This was just as boring as I'd thought it'd be. ", Kyle yawned as the three of them stood in an isle of a gift shop as Kara ran her eyes up and down the shelves, trying to find something that Dick would like.

"Yeah. I mean.. Why did you have to bring us? Why not Bart..or Gar..or Damian?", Jaime chimed in, slurping on the straw inserted into a juice shaker in his hand.

"Well. Bart's got his own plans with Linda today. I don't wanna bring Gar along to pick valentine gifts for another guy and do you really think Damian would've wanted to come ?", Kara answered as she bent low at her waist to pick up a heart shaped box that caught her eye on the lowest shelf.

"Hey! We got our own plans too ya know!" Kyle retorted , only for Kara to ignore him.

As she stood there, bent over in her leggings, two teenaged guys, skateboard enthusiasts by the look of it, were passing by. When they caught sight of Kara standing there bent over, they stopped abruptly and began to stare at her , with expressions as if they were enjoying the view.

Jaime noticed this and moved in so that he was blocking the view.

"Keep walkin fellas.", Kyle added as the two of them glared at the guys.

Slightly irritated, the guys threw dirty glares at Jaime as they walked on.

"What about this one?", Kara suggested, oblivious to all this, standing back up and showing Jaime and Kyle a gift box.

Just then, Jaime's phone began to buzz and upon answering it, he turned to the other two.

"It's Kori. Batman's on the telecom. She needs us back right away.", Jaime remarked. Kyle sighed in relief at being freed of this boring activity while Kara groaned in frustration.

/

"There have been reports in Gotham of mass muggings and murders that have no correlation that can be traced back to a suspect. The GCPD have not been able to locate or extrapolate any patterns about the killings. Most victims have their bodies mutiliated and charred to a degree where none of the police have been able to use any from of recognition programs to identify the person. They usually have had the skin of their faces completely cut off and replastered back on with sewing pins. Luckily, one victim has been discovered and his body remains almost intact.", Batman remarked in his monotonous voice.

The entire team stood in the common room before the giant telescreen.

"Commissioner Gordon has requested my help for the matter but since I am currently away on a league mission regarding the Hive crisis, I'm sending Robin and Supergirl in to investigate. You will meet up with Batgirl on site and she will bring you both upto speed about what the case progress has been so far. ", Batman droned on and was about to continue on when Kara cut across him.

"Me? Why..Why can't you send in one of the others?", Kara scoffed, not wanting so spend the day stuck with Damian.

"As of right now , we do not know who the killer is and what his agenda is. You have an invulnerability to most attacks ,making you the perfect candidate for the mission. Do you have somewhere else to be?", Bruce asked directly, catching her off guard.

She quickly looked sideways to find the others, including Dick, looking at her with cocked eyebrows.

"I um.. Well… no. I don't. ", Kara sighed in a defeated manner as she switched to her supergirl kryptonian suit.

/

As Kara stood outside tower in the titan's compoud,waiting for Damian to get ready, Kyle, Bart and Jaime walked up to her and the three of them a wore a slightly amused expression.

"Well..So much for the valentine thing..", Bart stated nonchalantly.

"Oh it's not over yet.I'm gonna get this thing over and done with fast. Then I'm dragging your butts over to the city again so that I can get a proper gift.", Kara replied with a determined look in her eyes.

Just then, Damian appeared out of the tower with Raven walking alongside him.

"Ready?", the fifteen year old robin asked in a cold voice. Kara threw him an irritated glare.

"Find your own way to Gotham. I'm not giving you a lift.", Kara remarked snidely and rose up, flying away , leaving the others watching her until she became a speck in the sky.

"And yet you all assume that I'm the one with anger issues?", Damian remarked coldly .

* * *

 _GCPD FORENSICS LOCKUP, GOTHAM, 13:20 EDT_

Kara stood in the rather cramped room with Damian and Batgirl as the robin inspected the slightly roasted body that was laid out in front of them on the silvery rectangular table.

Batgirl was a nineteen year old with flaming red hair that cascaded out from under her cowl . Kara had expected Batgirl to be another brooding person of the batfamily, since everyone besides Dick seemed to be so. In fact, Batgirl, or Barbara, as she told her name to be, was a quirky and cheerful girl who reminded Kara of M'gann a was even more interesting was the fact that she was the daughter of Commissioner Gordon.

She stood next to Kara in her grey body suit and yellow boots as Damian ran some scanning device over the body.

"The victim's name is Doctor Al Rothstien. Hewas a tenure professor at the Gotham city University. Went missing thirteen hours ago. Didn't attend his classes. ", Damian remarked out loud all of a sudden.

"How can you tell?", Kara inquired, a little surprised.

"I ran a facial recognition scan over him, reconstructing his face to estimate what he might have looked like. ", Damian replied without sparing Kara a glance.

"So what happened to him?", a raspy voice remarked from behind the three teenagers and they whipped around to find lieutenant Stacy entering the room. She was one of commissioner Gordon's officers .

Lieutenant Stacy was brunette of around twenty four years of age, quite young in her field. She had apparently graduated the police academy with high honors and had been recommended by the mayor himself. Her slightly brownish skin hinted at a south American heritage somewhere and she always tended to wear brown overcoat that hung just below the knee level.

Her bright green eyes scanned the scene as the three teenagers in the room stared back at her.

"The petechiae on Rothstein's face and in the whites in his eyes, added with the bruises on his neck, indicates that he was strangled to death and then had his body dunked into a tub of acid, most likely a sulfuric trioxide compound.", Damian remarked.

"Jeez.", Kara whispered to herself as she looked back at the body. What a horrible way to die. The criminals just kept getting more and more sadistic.

"So..Batman was so busy he sends you kids to help Gordon.", Stacy remarked in a sigh.

"I am perfectly capable of doing this on my own, Lieutenant. Whatever Nightwing can do, I can do better.", Damian huffed in a cold voice.

"And these two are adequate partners.", Damian added, sparing Kara and Barbara a glance.

"Watch it, dumbass.",Kara grumbled.

"Excellent teamwork you three have going .", Stacy remarked sarcastically.

"Hurry up or else you three get to explain to my girlfriend why I'm late for our dinner date.", Stacy added, eyeing the three of them.

"There's nothing else that can be deduced from this corpse. ", Damian stated coldly .

He then simply brushed past the police woman roughly . Kara and Barbara exchanged bewildered glances before following him through with Stacy murmuring something about lack of respect.

/

"Um.. why are we in the batcave?", Kara asked out aloud as she looked around.

Indeed, the three teenagers stood in the massive underground sanctuary of the batman that was exclusive to only a handful of people. And kara was certainly not on that list. Massive jagged rock walls bordered the cave . Different types of high tech apparutus that Kara didn't even know existed whirred around the place passively. There was a workout area towards the left of the cave and if you went up a flight of metal stairs, you'd end up in a floor that had nothing but various body suits that used to be worn by Bruce himself and Dick, placed on manequins in transparent glass caskets.

"Because the GCPD computers are as competent to the ones here as your brain is compared to mine. ", Damian remarked coldly, sitting in a rotating black chair in front of the giant computers that were lit up

"You little-", Kara rumbled through grit teeth and was about to incinerate Damian into a pile of ashes until Barbara jumped in between the two of them.

"Why don't we all just relax a bit huh?", Barbara chuckled sheepishly, glancing at Kara.

"Refreshment are here as requested, Batgirl.", an elderly voice spoke out from behind them and they turned to see Alfred, Bruce's family butler, walking into the cave from the elevator at the back of the place, holding a tray that contained mugs of steaming hot chocolate.

"Thanks.", Kara replied with a smile as she took her mug.

As Alfred walked over to hand Damian with his mug, Kara turned to Barbara, who was sipping on her own mug.

"How come you still insist on being called 'Batgirl'?We're the only ones here.", Kara asked inquisitively, for it was just her, Damian and Alfred who were here .

"Well. Batman found out who I was in no time. Dick picked up the crumbs and Damian didn't really care. But Alfred doesn't know. I'd like to keep it that way.", the red haired girl replied from under her cowl as Alfred walked up to them.

"How is the drink, ms. Gordon?", the elderly man asked with a knowing smile, catching Barbara off guard and she almost choked on her drink as Alfred walked away with a twinkle in his eyes.

"So he knows about me..Great..", she remarked, wide eyed with a slightly disappointed tone as Kara let out small chuckle.

"I really need to work on keeping my identity secret from people. My dad's gonna flip out if he find out .", Barbara sighed as Damain slammed his index finger on the bypass button on the computer board.

The monitor suddenly began displaying a list of rapidly changing number codings. It was running too fast for Barbara to make out anything but Kara was just able to read each line, though none of what the monitor was displaying made any sense to the girl of steel.

"Stop wasting time, shortack. I got plans for today. Let's get this thing over with.",Kara huffed impatiently. Damian answered her remark with a cold stare.

"I'm running an algorithm to triangulate the locations of murder. It should make this case easier to crack if we get an idea about where to look.", Damian replied .

As he spoke, the monitor began to display a very complex looking map of Gotham and a grid began criss-crossing across the display and before Kara knew what was happening, the grids seemingly disappeared, with just two red triangles being marked on the map displayed on the monitor.

"Downtown Gotham central. ", Damian remarked , his eyes fixed on the monitor.

"And near the upstate city hall.", Barbara murmured, her eyes fixed on the screen as well.

"They're on two different parts of Gotham. Opposite ends. Whoever did this is no novice. They'd know when we hit one site, so they could be prepared for us when we go after them.", Damian remarked, stroking his chin a little thoughtfully.

"Henh. Lucky for you fellas, the supergirl is here. I'll go in to both sites. Hit one site first, and if they're not there, I can pretty much fly over to site two in a matter of seconds and get em before them know what hit em.", Kara remarked, slamming her fist into her palm with an exhilarate expression.

"That would be border line stupid. ", Damian scoffed and Kara shot him a filthy glare.

"Shut your mouth, shorstack!', Kara chided but Barbara walked up, placing a hand on Kara's shoulder.

"No. Damian has a point. Even with your superspeed, we cannot be sure that the perpetrator will not be tipped off about you interference in some way or another. We cannot take the chance of them risking the lives of any hostages. ", Barbara remarked.

"I say that we go to both sites and hit em at the same time. You and Kara can go to the upstate city hall. I'll check out the downtown situation. ", Damian remarked.

"Don't you need any help?", Kara inquired.

"I can handle things alone.", Damian chided as he began to walk away.

"Not a chance boy wonder.I'm not gonna have the batman after my head if something were to happen to you. You and me are gonna check out what's with downtown Gotham. Batgirl can check out the city hall.", Kara remarked with a daring glare at Damian.

"Um.. I didn't mean I don't wanna go with you. It's just-", Kara remarked quickly to Barbara, not wanting her to take it the wrong way.

"No. It's okay.", Barbara chuckled.

"Besides. I'm glad I don't have to work with mister 'I can do things alone' over here. Good luck.", Barbara remarked with a smile .

* * *

"Since when did you get a .. 'Robin' cycle?", Kara inquired into her earpiece as she flew on ahead through the clouds. Damian was following her through , back down on the ground , on his thick , armored motorcycle .

"Just focus on the task, Zor-El.", Damian replied bluntly as he swerved round a street corner, avoiding the traffic lights. He was bent low over his motor cycle which was mostly painted a deep shade of red, mixed with black shades in places.

" _Zzat. Would you two stop bickering? It's really starting irritate me.",_ Barbara's voice crackled out of both their earpieces. She was on her way to her designated zone, almost in the opposite direction that Kara and Damian were headed in.

"Sorry. Point taken.", Kara grumbled as she flew on ahead with her arms out in front of her and her cape billowing behind her.

"Approaching Drop Zone A.", Damian mumbled into his earpiece as the mini computer on his bike alerted him. He rode the motorcycle down a large abandoned driveway and through an out of order security check in point, blasting it open by hurling a grenade at it.

As he slowed his vehicle down, Kara flew down to his side, landing softly on the crumbs of tar that littered the compound area. There wasn't any sign of movement anywhere. No sound, nothing. Only a few lampposts that lit up the compound area in it's bright white incandescent light.

"Who the hell would be plotting a dangerous crime sitting inside a clothing factory?", Kara chortled as she read the sing boards around the place.

"You clearly have no experience catching Gotham criminals, do you?', Damian chided as she slipped off his black helmet and walked up to her.

The two of them checked around the compound area for a couple of prolonged minutes before Damian agreed to go inside the large factory and check out the area.

Kara walked forward and dug her fingers into the ten foot , rusted metal doors that sealed the warehouse from visitors. She ripped the twin doors open and dropped them to the floor in a loud clanging noise.

"Ever heard of the saying' be silent and vigil'? " Damian snarked at her as he walked forward, slipping out a silvery flashlight.

/

Kara and Damian were now walking through what was an out of service warehouse of sorts. There was graffiti work done on the large walls of the place, the electricity didn't seem to work and there wasn't a single human in sight.

"I didn't need your help.", Damian remarked in a dry voice as the two of them were walking through an abandoned warehouse. Kara was searching the place while Damian flashed his flashlight in different directions.

"Shut your yammering . Believe me, this is the last thing I wanted to do today. I had more important things to do than listening to you whining all the time. Just live with it . ", Kara snapped back and she felt a sense of satisfaction when her cribbing teammate didn't respond.

"What do you think all this stuff is for, anyway?", she remarked, breaking open a wooden crate to expose a bunch of hapazardly strewn costumes. Most of them looked like the type you found find in a stripper's closet.

"No idea. But this is where the last data point came from. ", Damian replied as he walked upto her with a flashlight in his hand.

As he shone his flashlight on the lid of the square container, it bore a label that had an address and date marked.

"What do you think that is?", he asked as Kara squinted her eyes, taking a look at the label. After getting a good look at it, she let out a contemptuous snort.

"Don't you know a college frat sign when you see one?", Kara scoffed. She had previously sneaked into a frat party , out of curiosity more than anything.

"I don't waste my time on such nonsense. But.. seeing as this warehouse only contains storage boxes for said party, we should probably attend it. Maybe our mystery perp might make an appearance.", Damian remarked coldly, ripping the label.

* * *

 _TITAN'S TOWER, EDT 14:25_

" What do you think about this? D'you think Kara'll like this one?", Garfield asked in a serious tone,holding up two gift wrapped boxes in his hand.

"Um.. Not sure, Gar. Seeing as they're both covered up in gift wrapping.", Kyle groaned for the third time that day. Bart had already left for his date with Linda, M'gann had forced Raven to go to the local park with her. Kori and Dick were up in Dick's room. Garfield, Jaime and Kyle were in the common room,, with the former showing the other two what he planned to give Kara as a valentine's day present.

"Right.. So.. I'll just give her both of em then!", he remarked happily and bounded away to keep the boxes safely in his room until Kara's return.

"How come you got no date, Hermano?", Jaime remarked with a smirk at Kyle.

"Ehh. Not interested in the whole love and dating scene. Not for me. I like to fly solo. I'm not some lovesick puppy like Gar and Kara.", Kyle yawned. "What about you and Tracy?"

"She's off visiting her family or somethin. Speakin of Kara. How long d'you think till she finds out that Dick and Kori are.. you know, a thing?", Jaime mumbled to his friend as they both flipped through the television channels.

"Not sure. I never actually thought she was this serious about him till now. I mean... He's like five or six years older than her. And she's underage.", Kyle remarked with a burp as he sipped on his can of soda.

"Didn't she tell us that she's gonna confess today or something?", Jaime inquired.

"Yeah..", Kyle sighed, his expression slightly turning concerned.

"I just don't want her to get hurt when she finds out the hard way.", Kyle remarked quietly.

* * *

 _UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, GOTHAM CENTRAL, EDT 16:20_

"This is dumb..", Kara groaned through grit teeth as she began to feel very conscious about herself when she caught sight of many of the frat members eyeing her with a humorous look in their eyes. The moment they saw her looking at them, they turned away and began whispering among themselves.

Kara and Damian had now infiltrated the frat house party with an invitation ticket they had found in the warehouse. The place where the party was being held was rather enormous; a large mansion that the resident frat society had somehow bought out. There were many inscriptions and posters on the walls of greek letters and numerals, probably the frat's name, whatever it was.

The two of them were now in the clubhouse in costumes they had picked up. Damian was wearing a black and white striped tuxedo suit with a grey hat . He wore red sunglasses with his attire and on the whole, he looked like very short, nineteen -nineties style gangster. Kara, on the other hand, was wearing a fluffy pink bunny suit that made her look fat and was less than complimenting to her figure. The long ears of the silly suit hung forward over her face and she had trouble walking around the crowded place in the stuffy suit, bumping into people with every step.

Most of the people at the party were wearing beach clothing, with guys in skimpy tanktops and girls in costumes that looked like what a streetwalker would wear, exposing most of their bodies for the eyes to see.

"It was the only costume left.", Damian whispered to her in a stern voice.

"Sure it was.", Kara bickered as she looked around.

"Tried to find something a bit more up you alley. But they were fresh out.", Damian chided.

"So .. explain to me again why we're doing this silly cosplay charade?", Kara whispered to Damian as she looked around, seeing some of the older girls staring at her with bewildered glances.

"Try using your head, Zor-El. Being undercover allows us to gather information without arousing suspicion. ", Damian replied with a slightly frustrated tone.

"Yeah, Okay. So a girl in a large pink fluffy bunny outfit in a frat party isn't suspicious enough.", Kara remarked sarcastically.

Damian let out a sigh.

"Nevermind that. Is your super hearing picking up anyone talking about the random murders and kidnappings happening around Gotham?", Damian remarked, looking around over the top of his glass.

Kara concentrated on her sense of hearing, increasing the amount of sound that she could let it. It was a technique that Clark had taught her, when she was trying to control her newfound abilities. He had taught her how to cancel and block out noises and to focus only on what she wanted to hear and see. He had also taught her how to do the opposite. To focus on various sounds and noises in a controlled manner, so that it didn't overwhelm her.

As she listened in, she could hear many of the girls and guy stalking about trashy stuff, what kind of drugs were trending on the streets and about who had sex with whom. But nothing on any murders in Gotham.

"Nope.", Kara mumbled back.

"Well that's a let down.", Damian groaned.

Just then, the shrill sound of a microphone being hammered rung out through the giant mansion. Kara was the most irritated of them all, since her hearing was a lot, lot stronger than that of an average human.

"Jeez. What the hell..", Kara cursed under her breath, wriggling her little finger in her ear with an irritated look as she, Damian and the others turned to the mini podium towards the back of the hall , standing one foot above the floor level.

There was an evidently drunk college girl standing on the podium with a beer mug in her hand. She had her blonde hair tied up into pig tail on the two sides of her head . She was wearing a similar outfit like the other girls, exposing most of their skin for the eye to see.

"Ladies and gents.. Boys and... guys? Um..Welcome to the party dudes!..Hic!', she began to wheeze in her intoxicated state of mind.

She looked at the crowd as the people all began to stare at her.

"Yeah.. Sho.. Um.. anyway.. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome forward tonight's entertainment. Ladies and Girls! Um..", she droned on, swaying in her spot.

"The Maniacs!", the yelled out loud and the podium was instantly covered in a plume of opaque green smoke for a few seconds as everybody stared in confusion and shock.

As the smoke began to clear, they found the drunken girl lying on the podium floor with a horrific grin etched across her face , her eyes wide open in the manic grin. And over her stood someone. His pale , bleached skin was stretched as he glanced over the crowd with a maniacal grin on his face, his lips stretched ear to ear. His blackish-green hair was combed backwards in a hapazard manner. He was wearing a dark purple suit with a green pullover.

"I did tell her that it's 'The _Joker_ and the maniacs. But stupid girl wouldn't listen. Hmmm. What a waste..", the green haired clown sighed into the microphone, glancing down at the lifeless body at his feet. The rest of the crowd watched with shock, an uncomfortable silence creeping into the room.

"Now.. where was I? Ah yes!", the joker beamed up.

"Hello Gotham! Joker's back in town! And we're tonight's entertainment! ", the clown prince of crime cackled as he waved at the crowd, who were all staring in shock,Kara and Damian among them.

"Well don't just stand there! Give the man some applause!", the clown demanded with a grin, clapping himself.

But as a response, the young adults in the room simply lost all sense of order and began scattering around like attemptable sheep.

"Look at them go!", the Joker cackled as he watched them scattering , most of them screaming in terror.

"I think we just found our guy..", Kara muttered to Damian as the two of them stared up at the joker cackling away on the stage.

"Zor-El. keep the clown busy. I'm going out to contact Batgirl. ", Damian remarked as he slipped away in the confusion.

The joker was laughing wildly and he turned to see a flash of red and blue shooting in his direction and before he could react, he was being pinned to the wall behind him, hoisted off his feet by what looked like a blonde girl in a blue and red suit that looked like it had borrowed the theme from Superman's.

"Show's over, clown.", Kara hissed as she glared up at him.

" Hoo!Hoo! Now this is a new one. Tell me, what do they call you?", the clown wheezed as he dangled in Kara's grip.

"What I'm called doesn't matter,Clown. You're going back to prison.", Kara remarked out loud as her eyes began to glow crimson.

"Ha! Ha! You've got a little fight in you! I like that.. ", the joker remarked, leering at Kara.

Then, in a spur motion, the joker swung his arm around and slammed something into Kara's neck.

At first, she felt nothing. Then she began to feel intense pain coarsing through her veins . She felt her vision growing hazy and she began to feel cold. Slightly feverish ,even.

In her weakened state, her grip on the joker relaxed and she plopped down onto her knees as she struggled .

Kara began to experience trouble breathing and she fell to the floor on her back, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she struggled. She didn't know what was happening to her. The sensation felt horrible. She couldn't even stand up anymore and she dropped to her knees, choking and coughing as she struggled.

"Ya know , kryptonite spores are really hard to come by and you don't know the half the things I had to do get it!", the joker remarked dramatically as he began to circle Kara like a maniacal vulture.

Of course. Kryptonite. Kara has never actually experienced it . The only time she had been exposed to it was all those months ago when her abilities had first manifested. And she hated the experience then and she still hated it now.

The clown drew out a dagger from his boot and proceeded towards the blond kryptonian lying on the floor, gasping for air.

"Let's see what you really are without your alien strength, shall we, pretty?", the joker cackled as she brandished the dagger in his gloved hand.

But just then, a birdarag shot out for the darkness and struck at the clown's hand, disarming him of the dagger.

"Back off, clown face!", Damian remarked as he glided down to them from out of the darkness.

"Hoo!Hoo! I see you've got back up!", the joker cackled, turning his gaze to Kara, who was coughing, lying on the floor.

"I've got some of mine as well. Come on in, boys! Don't be shy!", the clown called out as he swayed on the spot.

Not a moment later, a dozen armed thugs wearing black cargo suits and clown faced masks burst into the large marble hall, their rifles aimed at Kara and Damian .

"You must be the new boy blunder. I don't believe we've had the opportunity to meet before. I was best buddies with your predecessor. ", the clown leered.

"Hmmm. A new costume I see. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.", the joker remarked with a grin as he ran his eyes up and down Damian's body.

"You're going back to Arkham,clown.", Damian huffed as he swung his Bo staff around onto his shoulder, standing over Kara.

"Yuck. And I thought my jokes were bad..", the joker groaned as he stepped back with a leer stretched on his pale face.

"Get em, boys! But leave the boy alone. He's mine. ", the joker hissed as he pulled out a razor edged knife from his pocket and burst forward, swinging it madly at Damian, forcing him to cartwheel backwards to avoid the blade.

Kara groaned as she looked around to see fifteen armed thugs moving in around her, their guns pointing at her. She couldn't sense any Kryptonite in their rifles but she was still incredibly weak from getting the substance injected into her system by the Joker.

Grunting and panting as she got to her feet, Kara began swinging her arms around, trying to strike out at the men. But the effect of Kryptonite was slowing her down, so much so that she was moving around like a drunk person, with the men easily ducking out from her reach. Most of them began to wolf whistle at her .

"Not so tough are now, are ya, bitch?", Kara heard a gruffy voice speak up behind her and she whipped around to find one of the men trying to reach for her rear area to grope her. She had him in her sights and didn't hold back. Before the thug could move out of the way, she struck him straight on the face with a blast of red heat vision , forcing him to stumble backwards as he gripped at his face, howling in pain.

With slightly fearful expressions on their faces, the men began raining down gunfire on Kara , forcing her to cower on the ground with her hands on her head as the bullets bounced off her. The metal rounds didn't penetrate her skin as it would've to a normal person,but the kryptonite was weakening her and she could begin to feel the sharp pain as the dozens of metal shrapnels struck her. Her hearing was going haywire as the loud sounds began to bang against her eardrums and she groaned in pain , clutching her ears.

/

The joker tumbled backwards after getting a heel kick to the chin from Damian. Wiping his lips, a manic grin spread across his face as he moved around, the two of them circling each other like boxers in a fighting ring.

"Ha!Ha! Feisty little one, arencha, boy! ", the clown cackled in exhilaration.

Damian didn't say anything but merely spat at the joker's feet, making it clear how the teenager felt about his father's famous nemesis.

The joker eyed the spit on his show with a bored expression.

"Now that wasn't very nice. At least the last boy wonder had some manners in him. Looks like Ol' joker's gonna have to beat it into ya! Ha!Ha!", the clown cackled as he lunged forward, swinging his dagger around , with Damian moving around, ducking out from the clown's reach.

The two of them went at it like that for a few more seconds until Damian side stepped one of the clown's lunges and swung his staff around,striking the clown on his back, sending an electrical charge down the man's body.

"The only thing you're gonna teach me is why the batman never killed you in the first place. You're pathetic.", Damian snorted with a smirk.

"Come to papa!', the clown roared and leapt at Damian with his daggers.

/

Kara now lay on the ground, motionless as smoke trailed off her. Still weak from the kryptonite, she couldn't get up against all the gunfire, so she figured the only way to get her footing was to fake herself being dead. And it seemed to work, since the gunfire ceased . She could sense the footsteps enclosing around her and in a swift motion, she sprang to her feet and began landing punches at all the men around her. She still didn't have her full strength yet, so her punches just barely managed to knock down a few guys as they rolled around in pain, clutching at where she had struck them .

Kara spun around , grabbed one of the gunmen by his kevlar armor and swung him over her head, sending him crashing through the walls behind them. Then, as she stood watching Damian and the joker go at each other from a distance, she felt a hand clasp around her and before she knew it, she was hauled back down onto the ground and the remaining few men were kicking at her as hard as they could.

And she could feel it. The pain. It was unbearable. One solid kick after could feel the jolt of pain searing through her body with each kick and she rolled around the marble flooring, grunting and groaning as the men attacked her.

/

Damian summersaulted backwards over the head of the Joker as the man gave him chase. Once the teenager had found his footing, he attempted to make solid contact on the joker with his staff, but the clown prince of chaos had been anticipating such a move and a smile crept up his face as he stepped out from harm's way and sliced at Damian's forearm, cutting open his sleeve.

"Argh!', the teenager yelped as he rolled backwards, clutching at his arm , stopping his blood from oozing out of the cut.

"Ya know, kid. If it means anything to you. You're more fun than the old robin ever was. You're not afraid to fight dirty. I like that. ", the clown remarked in a matter of fact voice.

"You need to go f-", Damian began with a furious glare in his eyes before the joker cut him off.

"A-tha-tha-tha! No cursing in front of uncle Joker!Saying bad words at such a young age is not very providential, ya know?", the clown remarked with a grin.

Damian panted as he got to his feet and he dropped a silver smoke pellet onto the floor. As the greenish smoke spread around him, the teenager vanished from view, leaving the clown to glance around with an amused grin on his face.

"Ah! The old drop some smoke and disappear act, eh? HA!HA! I'm game!", the joker cackled as he looked around the hall.

"Come out! Come out , wherever you are!",the joker called out in an innocent voice.

Damian sat in one of the air vents almost ten foot above floor level. He had an excellent view of the hall from this point and he could see the cackling green haired maniac strolling around, calling out for him. But he could also see Kara getting beaten up by the Joker's thugs a few dozen feet in the enormous hall of the mansion. She didn't look like she could take anymore hits, being tossed around like a rag doll. He didn't like it, but they had to retreat. He couldn't risk his teammate's life no matter how much he wanted to beat the living hell out of the joker.

As the joker looked on with a bored expression, all of a sudden, the lights in the room seemingly vanished as someone cut off the power supply.

"What the-", the clown began before he heard something metallic whirring in his direction and before he could react, Damian's spiral chains had latched onto the clown's ankles, locking them together, tripping him off his feet and onto the to the Joker the weapon had placed a micro tracker on his pants.

With a loud thud, the joker fell to the floor and the confused grunts of the thugs echoed through the hall.

"HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HO!HA!HE!HA!", the deranged clown burst out in maniacal laughter as he rolled around on the ground, his feet tied up.

Then, the sound of some of the men being punched and getting knocked out rang out through the hall and when one of the thugs managed to switch the lights back on, they found the joker rolling on the ground out in a state of laughter. But there was something else, the blonde haired kryptonian girl was also gone, along with the robin.

* * *

Kara felt increasingly groggy as her senses came to. She didn't know where she was but she could hear two people talking a few feet away. Rushed talking. One sounded agitated and the other, a female, sounded irritated and slightly surprised. Kara let out a soft moan of discomfort as she picked herself up from the floor. Instantly she heard two pairs of quick footsteps moving in her direction and a few seconds later, Barbara had her hand slung under Kara's shoulder, steadying the blonde teenager as Damian walked up next to her with a concerned expression on his face.

"Kara, how're you feeling?", Barbara inquired as she helped Kara sit down on a stool nearby. They seemed to be back in the batcave and it looked like it was just the three of them there.

"Kinda.. weird. I feel lighter.. A lot lighter.. Dunno what happened..", she managed to mumbled out Damian handed her a glass of cool water.

"The joker injected you with a heavy dosage of liquified Kryptonite. That put you off your game entirely.", Damian replied.

"I had pennyworth extract the toxin in your body. If we had been half an hour late, the kryptonite poisoning in your body would've put you in a state of paralysis. ", Damian continued.

"Ungh.. Thanks.. I guess..", Kara gave him a small smile.

"I tried to get there as fast as I could when Damian made contact ... but I had no idea who you guys were dealing with.", Barbara remarked in an apologetic tone.

"We should call in Batman. He'll want to look into this.", Barbara remarked, turning to Damian. But Kara was quick to turn down such a suggestion. She didn't want Bruce's or Clark's help on this. She could do this on her own.

"No... No. Don't.. We can beat this guy by ourselves.", Kara croaked out as she rubbed her forehead, trying to shake off he groggy feeling.

"Are you sure? I mean, the jerk almost killed you .", Barbara remarked quietly.

"We do it by ourselves. Besides. I've got a lotta pent up frustration to dose out.",Kara remarked, rotating her shoulders and cracking her knuckles.

A smirk crept up Damian's face.

"Wow. Never thought I'd say this, Zor-El.. But... you just might be the best partner I've ever had on a case.", Damian remarked and turned back, walking to the giant computer monitors that lit up the batcave.

"Since when did he decide to warm up to anyone?", Barbara whispered to Kara, who gave her a bewildered shrug.

"So what happened after ?", Kara inquired, stretching her torso by twisting her hips as she walked towards Damian.

"The joker got away. He wasn't there to just scare off the college students. I had pennyworth look into the house documents of the locality and it turns out that that mansion belongs to a world famous scientist who just recently passed away. He was into specialized bomb disposals, in contract with the US military. So I bet that whatever the joker was doing there, has something to do with those bombs. ", Damian remarked to the other two.

"Great... So there's a deranged clown running around Gotham with a bunch of bombs. Nothing new.", Kara remarked as she eyed the pictures of the joker being displayed on screen.

"Well. What kind of bombs are they?", Barbara intervened.

"Hydroplastic autonomous units. They tend to go off on voice command if the lunatic finds out what that thing can really do. ", Damian remarked as she stood there, his hands folded across his chest.

"Plus.. We don't actually know where the clown is, do we?", Kara remarked with a disappointed expression. Just then, Damian reached into a pocket on his robin suit and pulled out a rectangular holopad the size of a smartphone and clicked it on. After running his eyes on it, he pursed his lips.

"The joker's in a hijacked hotel right now, towards the east end of the city. ", the teenager remarked nonchalantly. He looked up to see Kara and Barbara eyeing him with cocked eyebrows.

"What? I thought it was common sense to put a tracker on him in case we didn't manage to nab the guy on first go. I was right in my judgement, as always.", Damian remarked with a smirk.

"Well, let's get to it quick!", Kara huffed impatiently.

"No. We can't. We can only get him when he's actually doing whatever he's planning on doing. We get him now, he could set off a dirty bomb somewhere in Gotham and we would risk the lives of innocent people.", Damian remarked.

"Fine.. Hurry up, clown face...", Kara muttered under her breath as she plomped to a nearby chair, frustrated , wanting to beat the crap out of the joker and also to get this whole thing over with fast.

/

The masked thugs all watched as the green haired lunatic sat on the reclining chair, polishing his pistol barrel with a handkerchief. They had just hijacked a two star grand plaza hotel and the Joker and some of the men occupied the manager's office while the rest waited downstairs with the stolen bombs and their casings, holding five employees hostage.

The joker sat there with a bored expression on his face, his feet stacked up on the wooden table in front of him as the five thugs in the room eyed him with scorn. They were technically not his, since they were low level hive officers who had been given to the clown to do their dirty work. So there was a question of compliance that still crept through some of the men.

Finally not able to take the angst anymore, one of the men, a bulky, six foot guy stepped forth , walking to the joker and slammed his fist impatiently on the table. Slowly, the clown turned his gaze to the giant of a man.

"I don get it! What the hell are we doin here, sittin around while you polish yer goddamn gun? I thought your job was to keep the heroes distracted for our employers ? You ain't doin much of a great job, pal!", the man yelled coarsely. He had a distinct bay-ridge brooklyn accent in his speech.

The joker slowly got up to his feet and stared up at the man who was inches taller than him, nose to nose and for the first time since the men had been working with the clown, he had no trace of a smile on his face. No quippy remarks and no sarcastic jokes. He just stood there, staring at the henchman. In a way, it was even more terrifying for the other men, who were watching with wide eyes, not able to predict what the joker was going to do next.

Slowly, the clown raised his hand up, holding the pistol in his grasp . He then loaded the barrel with one bullet, all the while staring calmly back at the confused henchman. He then spun the barrel so that the bullet would be fire out at random. Slowly, he then raised the pistol to the man's head and placed the end of the barrel on his forehead.

"Let's play a game,shall we?", the clown remarked in a drauling voice. The henchman didn't reply immediately, not sure what he was supposed to do.

Before he could react, the joker pulled the trigger on the gun and the hammer hit, forcing the man to jolt in shock as his body reacted to the sound of the gun clicking.

Then, the clown slowly moved the gun's barrel towards his own temple, all the while staring at the henchman in front of him with an unreadable expression.

"Now tell me, what's the secret to a good joke?", the clown inquired in a clam voice. And then, without warning, he pulled the trigger on the gun and the hammer hit, the resulting click echoing through the room. But no bullet shot out of the round.

"Timing.", the joker answered himself with a mad look in his eyes.

He then pointed the gun at the henchmen, who by now had begun to sweat nervously as the barrel pointed at his head.

"What's the essence of a rapturous crowd?", he then droned , with a maniacal grin slowly creeping up his face, inch by inch. He then pulled the trigger and the man slammed his eyes shut in fear , his body jerking as the hammer hit the clip . But no bullet came.

"Frevorous attention.", the clown answered himself yet again.

Then he slowly pulled back the hammer and pointed it at his temple . This time, when he fired,a small, black rod shot out of the barrel with a white cloth slung on it with the words 'BANG!' written on it in bold letters.

The man let a sigh of relief and began laughing as the joker began cackling out loud. Then, without warning, the clown pointed the gun with the tiny flag protruding out , aiming it at the man's forehead and pulled the trigger. This time, the sound of a bullet being fired echoed through the wooden furnished room and a second later, the laughter ceased as the henchman dropped to the floor with blank eyes. A black metal spoke protruded out of his forehead, with blood oozing out where he had been shot dead.

" His sense of humor lacked timing. Wouldn't you say?", the joker remarked with an amused expression, swaying on the spot, turning on his heel, glancing at the other men who had a shocked expression on their faces.

The clown looked at his gun as if it were a bad joke, flipping it over in his palm a few times before he nonchalantly dropped it into the carpeted floors with a loud 'clunk'.

"Now...", the joker remarked, clapping and rubbing his hands together. All of a sudden, his demeanor turned grim and sour and he had a threatening expression on his face as he glanced around the room.

"There's been a little change of plans, boys. ", the joker remarked as he skipped over to one of the men and slung his arm around the man's shoulder.

" Time for some.. aggressive expansion! Hoo!Hoo!", he continued, pinching the cheek of the man next to him like one would to a chubby child.

"Well.. What about what the Hive told us to do?", one of the men piped up timidly. The joker snorted.

"Boys! Boys! I hate to break it to you, but the Hive seems to be a floozy bunch. Take themselves waaay to seriously! They don't know how to enjoy what they do , now do they!? HA!", the joker scoffed.

"Their little scheme is a bit too complex and rather boring, if I may add.", the joker remarked, clicking his teeth, expressing his disagreement.

" No I've got something much more bigger, more grander planned in mind. And you fellas get front row seats to the upcoming spectacle!", the joker cackled.

"What about robin and that supergirl?", one of them inquired.

"Ah! Let em come! The more the merrier! Besides, that lil punk needs to have some manners bashed into him! HA!HA!", the clown remarked with a wave of his hand.

The men silently shrugged to one another as the joker walked to one of them and grabbed their gun out of their pulled back the round on the shotgun and fire it into the ceiling.

"Gotham seems to be itching for a brand new joke. Nothing a _blast_ of a party can't correct! Come on boys, we've got work to do!HAA!HA!HA!HA!HA", the joker cackled wildly as he proceeded towards the door to kick it down.

/

"What!? You're going after the joker? We should alert your father immediately!", Alfred gasped as the teenagers told him what they were doing when he came down to find Kara up and Damian seated in front of the batcomputer.

"No, Pennyworth. If we wait for my father to get all the way back here from the watchtower, the joker'll already have done what he's planning to do. We need to act now or he'll get away with it. ", Damian retorted. Then, Alfred looked to Barbara and Kara for support, only for the two of them not to make eye contact with the old butler.

"Master Damian, of all the irresponsible-", Alfred began before the entire computer feed when grainy .

"What the...", Damian cursed when the feed came back on and this time, it was not codings he had been running on the screen. But it was a certain pale faced, green haired criminal that stared right back at them with a nasty grin plastered on his face.

The same video was being played throughout Gotham, on every major broadcast signal, even on the giant telescreens that lit up the pavements.

For a few seconds, the joker simply looked right back at the viewers before he reached up to the camera with one hand and knocked on the screen with a bored expression.

" _Is this thing on?_ ", the joker asked someone off camera.

" _Yes, sir._ ", a voice replied. The joker then turned his gaze back to the camera and gave everyone a creepy grin.

" _Ladies and gentlemen.. We interrupt your regularly scheduled night of mayhem with a message._ ", the joker remarked with a drauling voice as everyone watched on.

The joker's face occupied most of the camera, so you couldn't technically make out where the guy was.

" _Tonight you're all going to be part of a social experiment.._ ", the joker remarked calmly. But he stopped mid sentence with an irritated expression . The viewers could hear ragged, panting breathing from someone off screen. In a spur motion, the joker whipped out a pistol from his hip and without a moment of hesitation, pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The echo of the shot being fired lingered momentarily as the anonymous man's breathing ceased. The joker the placed the gun back into his hip and rolled his eyes.

" _Some people just have no manners.._ ", the joker remarked nonchalantly before continuing.

" _Now. There's gonna be two automated bombs located in the prewitt Hotel and the Plaza central, two of the most esteemed hotels in this grand city of ours._ ", the Joker remarked coolly as he walked around with the camera in his hand, facing him only.

Immediately, the groups of people,most of them rich, in the said hotels began exchanging frightened and perplexed glances with each other . In the lobbies of the hotels, the people who were watching the joker on the hall TV monitors started to get panicked and made to rush out the they all stopped in their tracks as they found a group of masked , armed men knock out the security guards and enter the hall, guns pointed at them.

" _Most of you in the hotels just listed might wanna run out on your plump little legs. But each time one of you attempts to escape, I knock off a few digits from the timer set in place_. ", the joker remarked with a grin.

At hearing this, some of the women in the hotels gasped, clutching at their mouth. Some of the children who were old enough to understand what was happening began to cry in fear.

" _Now... I know Gordon and his GCPD unit must be gettin all fired about, ready tuh call it in and come after me. But if you do..._ ", the joker remarked in a serious tone, dropping his voice low. He turned his camera away in a shaky, rugged fashion to show four gagged hostages, their hands taped to a table behind them. One male and three female. They all had terrified expressions, with tears streaming down their faces. They seemed to have had a joker smile painted on their faces with what looked like blood.

" _Each of those precious hostages... will die. One. By. One_.", the insane criminal finished in a low, threatening voice.

"No...", Gordon remarked quietly as he and the other police officers watched, halfway through getting ready to go after the clown. They all stopped mid action.

" _I just want to prove a point, Gotham City.._ ", the joker remarked with a serious expression.

" _You see, there is no sanity or insanity. No right or wrong._ ", he droned. He then moved uncomfortably close to the camera, so that the viewers could only see his mouth, his yellowing teeth and his nose.

" _Ladies and Gentlemen.. You're all prisoners... Of your own minds.. What you call... sanity.. It's just a bad joke. A prison in your minds that stopping you from seeing that you're all just tiny cogs in a giant absurd machine._ ", the remarked with a drauling voice, handling the camera very badly, for the footage was unnervingly shaky.

His voice echoed through the streets of Gotham city square and through Gotham city hall , where the mayor of Gotham, a beefy man with auburn hair, watched the disturbing footage.

All of a sudden, the joker sent a jolt of shock down everyone's spine as he pulled the camera inches away from his mouth.

" _WAKE UP!_ ", he roared at the camera.

" _And tonight.. I will be proving once and for all... That when it comes down to it.. You're all just going to abandon the code that you live by.._ ", the deranged criminal remarked, dropping his voice back to the calm tone.

" _The Mayor of the this city will have a present delivered to him . Nice little valentine's gift, if you will._ ", the joker continued .

Everyone in the room with the Mayor whipped around to face him. He had just been in a political meeting with the city senate. He began to grow nervous and he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief.

Just then, one of the security guards burst into the room, holding a black gift box with purple ribbons tied across it.

" _You should've gotten my valentine's gift by now mister mayor. You see, what you hold is the disarmer for one of the bombs. You get to play the hero and save the lives of the people in one building. But... there's a catch. You pull the device now, you inadvertantly detonate the other bomb and take a dozen lives, just like that! HA!_ ", the joker chortled.

The mayor didn't open the box, too afraid to move as he stood, his eyes fixed on the screen as were everybody else's.

" _Oh. And ya might wanna get to it fast, mister Mayor. I hear your daughter is in one of the hotels._ ", the joker remarked with an amused expression.

"No... Cora.", the mayor breathed as a sense of dread began to grip took out his phone and tried to dial the number of his teenaged daughter. But no answer came.

 _"And if your esteemed mayor refuses to make a choice soon, the bombs will go off anyway. So.. Chop! Chop! HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!_ ", the joker began cackling out in a maniacal fashion before he dropped the camera onto the floor, ending the video feed.

All the people who had just seen the footage stared around with shocked expressions on their faces,not sure of what to do.

"Um..", Barbara muttered, tearing her eyes away from the monitor.

"At least we know what he's upto now..", she remarked with a blank expression.

/

" _I still think that we should call in your father on this matter, Master Damian._ ", Alfred suggested with a concerned tone through the comms system they had linked up.

"That's a no, Pennyworth. If the joker finds out that the batman is coming after him, we have no guarantee what that lunatic might do to get to father. Right now, he just knows that two teenagers after him. I'd like to keep it that way. ", Damian responded as he, Barbara and Kara waited on the rooftop of an office building.

"Just tell Gordon to play it safe. If the police makes a blatant move, the lunatic kills everyone anyway.", Damian remarked. Alfred let out a sigh.

" _Very well,Master Damian. I'll keep you updated on the events. Good luck_.", the old butler remarked.

"So.. What's the big plan, anyway?", Kara inquired, cracking her knuckles.

"We know that there are two bombs . And we can only stop it by disarming them together at the same time. ", Damian remarked thoughtfully.

"Right. So we do it simultaneously.", Barbara nodded.

"Kara, you get to the Prewitt Hotel. Barbara, you take the Plaza central. I'm going after the Joker.", Damian remarked as the other two nodded. Standing up, the three of them split up in different directions.

/

One armed thug slowly walked back and forth on the rooftop of the Plaza hotel building , patrolling the building in which the Joker stood. Just then, a swift shadow moved in,unseen by the thug and as he turned left on the rectangular rooftop . Before he realized that he was being shadowed, a black staff slipped in around his neck and the next second he was being strangled by a hooded figure.

About five straineous seconds of struggling later, the thug crumpled to the floor in an unmoving heap. Damian stood up, swinging his Bo staff onto his shoulder as he stood on the edge of the rooftop, eyeing the view of the city from the vantage point. He then pulled out his tracker to check the Joker's whereabouts and pursed his lips when he found the red blinking dot on the tracker located directly below him.

He was at the right place.

/

"With the Joker runnin around Gotham, don't you think there's a chance that the Batman might show up?", one of the armed henchmen patrolling the building remarked to his partner as the two of them walked around the detention level of the abandoned building.

"I'd rest easier if he didn't. To be honest, I'm a lot more scared of the batman than Superman. Ya never know what the bat'll do next.", his partner remarked .

Then, out of nowhere, a black smoke pellet dropped at their feet, instantly surrounding them in opaque green smoke.

"What the-", one of them managed to croak out before a hooded figure zipped around them, kicking them out from under their feet before knocking them both out with a strike to their head with an electrical staff.

Damian moved swiftly through the shadows, turning around corners before he could be spotted.

"Pennyworth. What's the situation?", Damian whispered into his earpiece as he hid round a dark corner.

 _" There seems to be thirteen hostiles on the third floor. Armed . The Joker is on the sixth floor. Two hostiles in the hall with him._ ", Alfred's voice crackled through the earpiece.

"Copy. And what about Gordon?", Damian asked as he moved around the corners, mapping out the floor mentally.

" _Already done. The commissioner is on standby and is holding a SWAT team ready three blocks down from your location.",_ Alfred answered.

"Let's just hope Batgirl and Zor-El do their job properly.", Damian let out a sigh.

/

A father and his nineteen year old daughter sat huddled on the floor, with the rest of the hostages. All the hostages of the Prewitt hotel were huddled in a circle in the center of the main hall of the hotel, with the six armed gun men circling around them like vultures. One of the gunmen particularly had an eye on the nineteen year old blonde girl, who was doing her best to avoid looking at him.

The father was hugging his daughter close to him, both of them shaking with terror just like all the other hostages.

Finally making up his mind, the henchman who was eyeing the girl in a lustful way walked up to her, licking his lips and simply stood there, smiling at her. Some of the other hostages nervously looked at him. A few of the henchman's comrades stopped their patrol and stood there, chuckling to themselves, treating it as a comedic event.

The father and the girl slowly looked up at him and the thug ran his eyes up and down her body.

"Wass your name, pretty?", the thug asked in a coarse , raspy voice.

But before the girl could answer, the distinct sound of a man in crying in agony came echoing from outside the main doors.

"What the hell..", one of the armed men muttered as they all turned , arming their rifles and pointing it at the doorway.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then,the ten foot ornate wooden doors were blasted off it's hinges and a blonde girl wearing a blue and red suit came walking into the hall, her eyes glowing red, with smoke and dust wafting around her.

"I'm in a hurry. So let's just get this over with.", Kara remarked , cracking her knuckles.

"SHOOT HER DOWN!", one of the men roared and all at once, the men began raining down gunfire on her . The hostage in the hall began to scream and cover their ears in fright. Kara , however,didn't budge, simply standing in her position as she felt the bullets bouncing off her chest.

She waited till all their bullets ran out and snorted .

"My turn.", she remarked out loud and in the blink of an eye, she was zipping around the room, taking out the gunmen one by one by yanking their guns out of their grips and slamming the weaponry on their even caught some of the men by their neck and hurled them off a few feet away, sending them crashing into the walls. A few seconds later, the hostages were surrounded by the bodies of the unconscious gunmen, who lay there on the ground in various areas as Kara looked around proudly at her work.

She then blinked and switched her vision to the X-ray format to detect radiation emission that would be emitting from the bomb. Sure enough, she began to feel the pull of genemite, a radioactive isotope, almost four floors up. Without warning, she simply shot up, breaking right through the hotel hall ceilings, shattering the concrete as she flew through it.

On the fifth floor, she found a large , black box that looked like a giant vault of sorts. It was almost four foot in height.

Kara tried to use her X-ray vision but she found herself unable to see through the thick black metal vault.

Kara tapped her earpiece, trying to connect to Damian's but unfortunately, all she got from the other end was an odd crackling noise that implied that the Robin's comms was out of range. She then switched to Barbara's and fortunately, she was able to get through.

" _..I'm kinda busy, supergirl..Hrgh!_ ", Barbara's voice crackled through and Kara could hear her grunting and the sound of guns being fired came through. Batgirl must still be stuck with her henchmen.

"Alright!Alright.. Um.. I found my bomb.. But.. I don't really know what to do with it..It's inside some kind of vault and I may set the thing off if I open it. ", Kara remarked as she stood impatiently in front of the vault, looking around.

" _Um. so try and see what's inside it then.",_ Barbara remarked.

"Can't. I think vault's made of lead casing.", Kara groaned.

" _Uh.. Okay.. Hang on. I'm just about done with my guys.. And._. ", Barbara remarked and one second later, Kara heard the sound of strained male voices coming from the other end of the comms unit . Then, Batgirl's voice came through.

" _Okay. Let me get to my bomb. We have to diffuse it together or we might set it off. Hang on."_ , Barbara remarked .

/

A group of the armed thugs were conversing with themselves on the floor directly below which the joker was located. Thirteen armed henchmen.

Then, without warning, the flooring beneath them shattered and gave way. Three of the men plummeted down and ended up fracturing their foot from the fall. As the remaining others tried to gather themselves together, Damian shot up from below and began hurling birdarangs at the men, impaling their hands to their guns . As the men began yelping in pain, he began flipping around, kicking and punching out at the men, striking them all on their pressure points so that they went down quickly.

Upstairs, the Joker and the two henchmen in he room glanced down at their feet when the muffled sounds of a struggle came through.

"Hoo!Hoo! Looks like we've got guests! ", the joker chortled as he kicked off the walls, spinning in the rotating chair that he was seated on.

Back down floors below, Damian had his legs wrapped around one henchman and he was slamming his elbow onto the top of the man's head, roaring as he did so.

All of a sudden, he was brutishly yanked off the man's shoulder by another henchmen, who slammed him onto the ground below them and began punching at the boy coarsely. Damian took a few hits all the while scowling at the man. Then, once seeing an opening, Damian drew out his grappling gun and shot it into the wall a few feet behind them. He then hooked the cable onto the thug and released the catch, letting the man fly off his feet and slam into the wall .

Damian then flipped himself back onto his feet and sprinted forward,picking up his electrical Bo staff and ducked under the gun fire of the last henchman ,sliding under his legs before leaping back up behind him and striking him on his head with the weapon, sending an electrical pulse through his brain that shut it down .

As the last man fell to the floor, unconscious, Damian looked around the place, the only sound in the room being his heavy breathing.

/

" _Okay. I'm in position. My bomb's not a vault.. Um... It's like a switchboard inside a barrel."_ , Barbara's voice crackled through.

"Damn it..", Kara cursed as she looked around the place , trying to find a safe place to diffuse the bomb.

" _Okay. Um.. I just bypassed the main security hold. You ready yet?"_ ,Barbara's voice crackled through as Kara stood, her eyes transfixed on the ceiling above her. An idea has just hit her and she was wondering why she hadn't thought of this earlier.

/

" _Hang on! I got an idea!",_ Kara's voice crackled through as Barbara sat crouched in front of the switchboard, ready to diffuse it.

A few seconds later, Barbara thought she heard the sound of shattering concrete and a bewildered expression swept across her face.

"What're you doing?", Barbara inquired cautiously.

/

"Just hang on!", Kara yelled into her earpiece as she flew skyward. She had already flown past the clouds, carrying the vault with her, her fingers dug into the metal casing. Her eyes were squinted as the wind billowed at her due to the speed at which she was flying vertically upwards.

Kara increased her speed and she flew harder, faster, the fastest that she had ever flown so far.

" _KARA!? We need to do this now! There's only ten seconds left on the countdown!',_ Barbara's voice came yelling through.

"HANG ON!", Kara roared as she broke through the tropospheric layer of the earth. Shecould see the vast expanse of space around her now and she could feel the air getting thin. Her breathing was more attuned to that of a human's and she knew if she flew off any father, she'd fly out of the earth's atmospherical zone and would lose access to oxygen.

With all her strength, she hurled the vault out from underneath her, spinning mid air as she did so, and let the vault fly off into the void at an incredible speed.

"NOW!", Kara yelled as her eyes began to glow red and she let the heat vision shoot out of her eyes and within a matter of seconds, the crimson beams met the metal of the vault and the casing seemingly exploded, miles away from earth or any revolving space stations. Kara panted as she stared at the explosion in the distance.

Then she reached up to her earpiece and linked up with Barbara again.

"Did it work?", Kara remarked . There was a hint of nervous fear traced in her voice. What if Barbara wasn't able to diffuse her bomb? It would've detonated, killing her and the other innocent hostages in the building.

Then, after crackling silence, Barbara's voice came through.

" _We did it.._ ", Barbara's voice crackled and she sounded like she was exhausted.

Kara closed her eyes and took in the energy of the sun in the distance for a moment, breathing out to calm her nerves. This had been one hell of a valentine's day.

/

A wave of relief washed over the mayor's office as reports began to come in that the bombs had been disarmed. He didn't have to make the regrettable decision, for he was about to flip the switch and try to save his daughter.

/

The Joker and his remaining two men caught sight of the explosion in the sky. The maniacal grin that had occupied his pale face gradually faded as the green haired clown neared the glass paned walls of the building, over looking the city. His eyes shifted to the Plaza hotel and he lifted the detonator in his hand and clicked it.

But no explosion came. He tired again. Nothing.

His face was now wearing an easily readable scowl.

"Now that's... NOT .. funny..", he remarked quietly .

Just then, the doors behind them were blasted open and and green smoke entered the room, shielding Damian from view.

"Aww... Party pooper. No cake for you.", the joker groaned in an irritated manner. He then turned to his two men and cocked his own pistol ready.

"Massacare the little runt. ", the joker whispered and at once, the three of them began raining down gunfire into the smoke. The joker began cackling madly as he fired his bullets randomly, apparently enjoying all the ruckus being created.

Just then, from the air vents directly above them Damian sprang out and kicked out at the two men, throwing them off balance and disarming them of their guns simultaneously.

"HA!HA! The old sneak attacks from the air vents ,eh? Your predecessor had a penchant for those attacks. Such a 'Robin' thing to do! You need to be more creative , boy.", the joker cackled taunting Damian.

The teenager stood back up and drew out his Bo staff, which had a new retractable function built into it.

"I don't need to waste my thinking to beat someone as generic as you, clownface.", Damian snorted with a smirk.

Being called 'generic' seemed to have hit a nerve with the green haired criminal, for his grin vanished and was replaced with a disgusting scowl as he began to grumble in annoyance.

"That's it, ya little punk! You have made the last disrespectful remark! Kill the little bird!", the joker roared at his men and they immediately charged, engaging Damian in combat as the Joker watched.

Damian ducked under the lunge of one henchmen before flipping over his head and swinging the Bo staff around, hitting the man squarely on his spine. He then narrowly managed to swivel around the jab of the other man to flip out twice and land at a safe distance away.

Damian then bolted forwards towards the charging men, brandishing the staff with him. He jumped up, kicking off the shoulder of one of the men and landed on top of the other, wrapping his legs around the man's neck and began pummeling him. But the other henchman reached up and grabbed Damian from behind and hauled him back down onto the floor. Then, the two of them began raining down punches on the teenager as Damian was forced to use his staff to defend himself and block the onslaught.

In all the chaos, the Joker had joined in the fight, kicking repeatedly at Damian with a small blade that protruded out from the toe area of his black shoe.

"Laugh it up now, little punk! Come on! Laugh!", the deranged clown cackled as he kicked at the teenager.

Damian struggled to get a proper footing and cowered as he was pummeled. One of them pulled out a dagger and attempted to stick the blade into Damian's face. But he narrowly managed to evade it and seized the weapon from the man's hand and lurched out with it, still on the ground. His accuracy was a lot more precise than the henchman's and he managed to stick the blade straight into the man's eye, forcing him to backpedal as he howled in pain, clutching at the hilt of the dagger that stuck out from his right eyesocket.

The joker shifted sideways and let Damian spring back up onto the other henchman, roaring. Damian wrapped his legs around the man's neck and dropped his own torso back down, using the momentum of his weight to lift the man off his feet and send him tumbling forwards onto the ground. When the man attempted to get back up, groaning, Damian walked forward and laid one solid kick on his face, knocking him out instantly.

Damian then turned around, panting to find the Joker bolting in his direction with a crowbar. Damian attempted to swivel out of reach but his growing fatigue was beginning to show as the joker was able to grab onto the teenager's suit and yank him forward, landing a solid punch on the face . Then,he whacked Damian on the abdomen with the metal crowbar, forcing him to stumble backwards in pain. As he gathered himself back up, the joker managed to land one solid kick onto the teenager's chest, forcing him to stumble backwards and in his momentary lapse of balance, Damian got caught in the net that hung from the ceiling. He struggled around in it as it entwined around him, unable to get the thing off and the Joker seized the situation to kick Damian down onto his back and once the teenager was on the ground, the green haired maniac began to lash out at Damian with the metal crowbar, all the while cackling out loudly in a mad fashion.

"AH!HAH!HA!HAH!OH!HA! You seem a little distraught, boy!", the joker cackled madly.

With each hit, the pain Damian was experiencing increased. He began to spit out blood.

"You know, kid... This looks like it really hurts ..", the joker remarked as he continued to hit the teenager, who was taking the hits as he tried to find his way out of the confusing web of the net.

After about two minutes of continuous hitting, the joker paused , panting . He had a crazed glint in his eyes , his hair falling off his face with beads of sweat forming. Standing back up, he combed his hair back in place and tapped the crowbar into his free hand with a grin on his face.

"Now tell me, boy blunder. What hurts more?", the joker remarked in a drauling tone.

"Forehand?", the clown asked before swinging the crowbar down onto Damian's shoulder, resulting in the teenager grunting in pain.

"Or backhand?", the joker continued one, bringing the bar down on Damian yet again, forcing him to spit out blood.

Damian lay there, flat on his back, the net over him. He could see the glass paned walls about five feet behind the joker and beyond it, he could see the Gotham skyline. He could see the flashing lights of the city that was abuzz. He could see the brightly lit, giant 'W' that was the Wayne tower in the distance.

"I'm waiting...", the joker remarked with a dangerous leer as he raised he crowbar above his head again, ready to strike.

"How about we find out what hurts for you.. clown face.", Damian remarked quietly .

"What?...", the joker remarked with a confused expression, not understanding what Damian meant.

Then, seizing the moment of confusion, Damian, still under the net, leapt up with a final surge of energy and landed a solid, double legged kick onto the middle of the joker's chest. The force sent him stumbling backwards and before he could regain his balance, the deranged clown shattered the glass behind him and fell through , due to the force with which Damian had kicked him.

The clown began to plummet down to the pavement, cackling out madly as if this was all a silly game to him.

"OH!OH!HAH!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HOO!HOO!", the clown cackled as he plummeted . But over fifteen feet from hitting the pavement, his fall was broken and he felt a snag around his left ankle.

Damian was feeling incredible pain all over his body as he pulled the cackling clown back up with his grappling gun. He had shot the rope from behind a pillar and was using it as leverage to pull the joker back up, stopping him from falling to his death.

Damian finally managed to pull the joker back upto safety and tied the rope onto the pillar. Having done that, he slowly trudged up to the cite of the shattered glass pane, picking up his Bo staff that was lying there and looked up to see the cackling criminal looking at him with an amused expression, hanging upside down .

"Oh.. Oh.. You.. You seem different than the last Robin . You seem a lot more .. fun to hang with.. Ya know.. you really remind me of the big man himself... I like you, kid..", the joker remarked with an amused grin as he eyed the panting Robin standing in front of him.

"I just want you to know, clown.. ", Damian panted. "I didn't let you die not because of any misplaced sense of morality or self-righteousness... Henh..", he grunted as he clutched his right shoulder in pain.

"I didn't kill you.. out of respect for Batman.", Damian finished before spitting onto the joker's face.

The clown prince of chaos didn't respond, but instead clapped his hands over his face and began cackling out loud in a fit. Apparently he found Damian's remark highly amusing. Below them, just then, the flash of red and blue light appeared and the sirens of the GCPD cars echoed through the night .

* * *

 _HALL OF JUSTICE, EDT 21:20_

Kara and Damian stood in the meeting room of the headquarters of the Justice league, with Batman, Wonderwoman,Aquaman, Flash and Cybrog standing there, facing them , five feet away. Kara was there physically but her mind was already fixated on getting back quickly to titan's tower.

Damian, on the other hand, had a few bandages on him and he stood there with a stubborn expression on his face. The two had just got back and Batman seemed to be furious with the two of them and with Barbara, who was back in Gotham , for trying to take on someone as dangerous as the Joker without alerting the league.

"What both of you did today was beyond reckless. You could have detonated the bombs if you had been unlucky and the joker could have killed you both and Barbara. Kara, the joker had injected kryptonite into your bloodstream and if you were any second late in getting treatment, it would have been irreversible. ", Bruce remarked , glaring at the two of them. At hearing that she almost died, Diana have her a pointed look and Kara already knew that Diana would be telling Clark about the . She should expect a visit from him tomorrow at least.

"And you. ", Bruce then remarked with a hiss, turning to his son.

"What were you thinking? Going in alone and taking on the joker and his thugs? He could have killed you. ", Bruce seethed.

"But he didn't.", Damian remarked scornfully.

"I didn't go in alone because I wanted to be a solo act. I went in alone because I didn't want to risk Zor-El or Batgirl getting killed. If it was just me, the less collateral damage. And we worked as a team. They were disarming the bombs. ", Damian snapped.

"You were too far away from Gotham and even if we had contacted you, you wouldn't have been able to get there in time before that mad lunatic blew up the city to hell. I don't care what you say, father. Given the circumstances, I think I made the logical decision and it paid off. We got the Joker and now he's back in GCPD custody ready to be taken back to Arkham.",Damian retorted back firmly, meeting his father eye to eye. At hearing someone talking back to the batman, Victor and Barry exchanged silent wide eyed glances with each other.

For a few strained seconds, Bruce didn't speak, simply eyeing his son silently from under his cowl. Then, he decided to break the silence.

"You will both be receiving a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Expect the report within two days time. Until then, you are dispersed.", Bruce stated. Kara let out a small sigh of relief. However, when both of them turned to go, Bruce spoke up again.

"Supergirl, you may leave. Robin, Stay. I have to discuss something with you.".

Kara and Damian exchanged glances before he gave her a curt nod and both of them separated.

* * *

 _TITAN'S TOWER, EDT 22:30_

Kara had quickly changed her clothing and taken a bath once she had returned to the tower. It had been over and hour since she had gotten back and Damian had just returned from the hall of justice and now, he was with Raven out in the gardens. Kara hadn't seen Garfield so far since her return , thankfully. He was a nice guy but he was not the one she was pining over.

On her way , Jaime had told her that Dick was in his room , the one he used at times while he was visiting the tower. And that's where she was headed. She wasn't very experienced in the romance department and she didn't really know how to approach a guy and confess, but she knew that if she didn't do it now, she would never do it. She was holding a red gift wrapped box that was shaped like a heart and she was wearing the best dress she could get her hands on at this late hour.

Turning the corner, she was now walking down the corridor where his room was located.

She could see the door now, at the end of the corridor. The dark blue sliding door. Her heart was beginning to beat rapidly so much so that it was blurring out her heightened senses. She wanted to turn back and avoid getting embarrassed but she couldn't stop now. Her feet kept moving forwards, not listening to her panicking brain.

Standing in front of his door, she wondered whether she should go through with this or not. Her heart was now basically ramming against her ribs and she stood there, biting her lip nervously.

Kara made up her mind and pressed on the touch pad on the wall to ring the virtual doorbell and waited.

After a few strained and nervous seconds of standing there in the hallway, the doors slid open and Kara looked up with a nervous smile. But who stood there was not Dick. Kori was smiling back at Kara.

She stood there wearing a dark blue sweatshirt over her torso . And Kara was sure that she had seen Dick wear the same shirt earlier that day. Kori's leggings looked like they had been hastily pulled over her legs and her hair was slightly unkempt.

"Kara! Hi! Is.. there something you wanted?", Kori asked in a friendly manner, giving her younger teammate a sweet smile. But the blonde teenager stood there with a blank expression on her face momentarily, until her mind clicked and the pieces fell in place. Kara 's heart plummeted as the realization dawned on her and she stood there, frozen.

"Ah. Um.. N-No.. I.. just...", Kara fought with herself, trying to come up with an good excuse to not come off as even more stupid than she was feeling at the moment. Her eyes caught sight of the flowers she held in her hand. Daisies.

"I.. Was just going to give Gar this valentine's present.", she remarked , nodding at the box she held in her hand.

"But I wanted to give you this. You've been a good friend for the past few months and have been like my big sister and I've not really thanked you till now. ", Kara remarked, handing her the clump of daisies , fighting to keep her voice modulated.

Kori took the clump with a greatful smile .

"Thank you, Kara. They smell really nice.", Kori remarked with a sweet smile.

/

Kyle yanked open the lid of the soda can in his hand as he walked back down from the storage room up to the common room; a long trek.

His mind was still caught up about the soccer game that he, Jaime and Garfield were watching on the giant television screen. Then, as he rounded the corner of the fifth floor, two floors below where the common room was located, he thought he heard someone crying and he turned back to see the figure of Kara sitting there, not meeting his eye. There was a red, heart shaped gift wrapped box lying on the floor next to where she sat, her back leaned up against the wall.

Oh boy. It didn't take him long to figure out what had happened. All of them knew this was coming and it had been a question of when it would happen.

"Um.. Are.. you.. okay?", Kyle asked, wondering if he should even get into the matter. Kara didn't answer, simply sitting there, feeling stupid.

"I am.. gonna take that.. as a no..", the teenaged lantern mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt awkward. He had no experience on how deal with these kind of situations.

He decided to sit down next to her. When she didn't say a word, he took a sip of the soda in his hand. For a few silent seconds, the two of them just sat there, not speaking.

"So.. I'm guessing it didn't go so well, huh?", the teenaged lantern remarked quietly, looking at the wall in front of them.

"He's.. dating Kori.. I think.. I just walked in on their valentine's night or ..", Kara simply mumbled before sniffing her nose. Kyle didn't respond, for he and the others all knew about the implied relationship between their two oldest members, even though the two had never actually come out and said it. Kara turned to look at him .

"You didn't react.. Did you .. know?", she asked quietly. Kyle didn't respond immediately.

"Um.. ", he began.", Yeah..I guess..", he nodded.

"Did.. the others know?", Kara continued. He nodded again

Kara sniffed her nose and looked away, feeling more stupid than before. They knew. They all knew. Except her.

Now that she thought about it, they both did seem a lot more friendlier to each other. How did she not think about it?

Kyle could tell that Kara felt seriously embarrassed , for she wasn't even looking at him as she spoke. And he had never actually seen her cry. He let out a small sigh.

"Look... I admit that sometimes you can be a little overbearing and you tend to do things without thinking them through... But.. I also think that you're an amazing person and you've got a good heart, Kara.", Kyle remarked with a smile. "And hey, sometimes it happens to the best of us.".

"Thanks..", Kara whispered, rubbing her nose , looking away from him silently with a small smile. The two of them sat together in silence for a few prolonged minutes.

Kyle scratched the back of his head as he looked at her.

"We.. were actually gonna tell you tomorrow.. Um.. we didn't actually think that you'd go and do it..", Kyle remarked quietly as he glanced down at his can of soda.

Kara let out a sigh and propped her head up against the wall.

"You want a sip?", Kyle inquired, handing her the can . Kara thankfully took it and chugged it down before handing it back to him.

Kyle looked at the can and turned it upside down, shaking it twice to see two droplets drop from the inside. Kara had emptied the thing in one full swig.

"Honestly.. I was wondering how you didn't see it coming even though you're the girl with a hundred different types of vision.", Kyle remarked, , crushing the metal can in his hand.

Kara let out a weak chuckle. "I guess I was blinded by what I wanted to see, I forgot to see the reality around me. I was living in a fantasy world.",Kara added bleakly.

The both of them let out a small chuckle.

Kyle looked at the phone in his pocket.

"Well... It's still not twelve yet and Gar's got a big present he bought for you upstairs. You could still have your valentine's day. ".

Kara looked at the gift wrapped box at her feet with a small smile.

* * *

"The Clown went off agreement and ended up having many of the men captured or killed.", Shiva remarked.

"Never matter. Were you able to extract the DNA sample from Palmer Industries?", her superior remarked coolly , his back turned to her, with his hands clasped behind him , as they stood on a metal platform , hundreds of feet above ground level, overlooking some underground warehouse.

"Yes. While the clown kept the titans distracted, we were able to procure the asset from the facility without a hitch.", Shiva responded.

"Good. It should help stabilize it's condition.", the man remarked coldly as he looked down from his vantage point to the sight below.

A few dozen scientists were computing codes and assessing system analysis while a few of the henchmen were standing by, patrolling the facility that was under lockdown . A large cylindrical capsule stood in the middle of the hall. This containment unit encased a slimy, effervescent liquid that needed constant cooling to keep the temperature stabilized. And inside this capsule was what looked like a teenaged boy with jet black hair. His eyes were closed shut and he floated passively within the capsule as the liquid swirled around him, keeping him sedated.

* * *

 **Until next time, folks!**

 **Some of the scenes in this chapter are a sort of homage to scenes from the movie : under the red hood.**

 **Please leave a review telling me what you thought about this chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading it!**


	16. Chapter 16 Roulette

Author's note :I've had one or two readers messaging me, asking me what suit my version of Supergirl is wearing and I'd just like to clarify that I inted for her to be wearing the version of the suit she wears in the new 52 comics. Also, I'm sorry that I've been two months late in updating . I've been busy with my college stuff and I've also had a writer's block. Anyway, I'm back now and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Cheers!

* * *

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Sixteen - Roulette**

* * *

 _Castro District, San Francisco city, FEBRUARY 17, 02:15 EDT_

A hooded figure turned a city block and proceeded to walk hastily through the empty streets of the city, her hands dug deep into the pockets of her dark, denim jeans pockets. She looked like every other Mexican-American in her mid twenties, except for the tiny difference that she was a metahuman. Her eyes were pearly white, without a visible set of pupils like a normal person and her hair was platinum blonde and her lips were naturally blue in color, as a result of her abilities. Her main power was her ability to absorb and redirect the powers of any being who she touched.

As she paced the streets, all of a sudden, a black van hauled up next to her and before she knew what was happening, she was struck with an electrical baton on her spinal area , knocking her out as three men in black militarian clothing moved her into the van before driving off .

* * *

 _TITAN'S TOWER, FEBRUARY 18, 13: 45 EDT_

Kara was staring down at Damian as the two of them circled each other at a slow pace, their eyes locked onto each other. They were in the combat training facility of the tower and Damian had challenged Kara to a duel and she , being the hot-headed girl she was , was not one to back down from such a blatant challenge. And besides, she could easily beat him. He was the single titan without any physical powers like the rest of them.

M'gann, Bart, Raven, Kyle and Garfield were in the room as well, watching the duel . Kori and and Dick were staying back at Dick's apartment for the weekend and Jaime was doing a training test with Cyborg up at the hall of justice.

" _INITIATE...COMBAT TRAINING.. IN THREE...TWO...",_ the automated voice of the AI system remarked .

"Ready to get your butt whooped, boy wonder?", Kara taunted as they began to near each other, both of them bobbing lightly on their toes. Damian let out a contemptuous snort.

"Your arrogance is incorrugable, Zor-El. You seem to forget that you're not allowed to use any of your kryptonian powers besides your strength. ", Damian remarked as they drew closer.

"He's one to talk.",Bart whispered to Kyle, all the while munching on his third banana of the minute. The speedster then zipped over to Raven and held out a five dollar note.

"Wanna bet, babe? Super blonde takes out short wonder in ten seconds.", he stated confidently . Raven rolled her eyes at him as an answer.

"So...is that a yes or a no? I'm bad at reading body language.".

"I could beat you with my hand tied behind my back.", Kara retorted before locking in combat with Damian and she easily began to over power him, pushing him back along with flooring with a smirk on her face. Then, at the last moment, when it definitely looked like she was about to win by a landslide, Damian simply slipped out of her grip and tripped her, letting the momentum of her own strength send her tripping over the edge of the combat arena , landing on her back.

" _TRAINING..FAILED...SUPERGIRL.",_ the AI voice remarked as the ground lit up an iridescent blue.

Bart ,along with most of the others, had their jaws hanging open in dismay at what they had just seen. Damian, the only person on the team who lacked any real powers, had beaten one of their strongest teammates with ease. Raven gave Bart a small smirk as she took the five dollar bill out of his hand.

"How ... what... What sorcery is this!?", Garfield exclaimed in dismay, pulling at the hair on his head.

"It's called combat tactics, Beastboy. Something the Kryptonian clearly lacks.", Damian remarked as he stood back up and cracked his knuckles with a smirk on his face.

"Ah, shut the hell up. You just got lucky, short-stack.", Kara remarked contemptuously as she got back to her feet.

"Besides, I was holding back.", she added .

"Sure you were, Zor-El. ", Damian snorted.

Just then, the sliding doors of the combat room slid open and the blonde figure of Dinah Drake came into view. Since Kori and Dick, the two oldest members of the team were out for the weekend for 'personal reasons', the league had appointed a member as interim supervisor for the titans. And today, Dinah was in charge.

"Lunch is ready. I'm going to be heading out for a while. ", she stated with her smartphone in hand.

Bart sped towards her with an eager smile plastered onto his face.

"So... You got any assignments for us to do? ", the speedster remarked rapidly.

" Handing out team assignments is not why I'm your glorified baby-sitter.", she stated in a calm tone.

"Yeeeaah..But you're going somewhere ,right? Dinner? A hot-date situation? A misseonnn?", the speedster remarked with a sly wink at her.

"Yeah..We could use some out door stuff right about now. Getting real boring here.", Kara yawned as she walked upto the two of them, the others following through. Dinah raised an eyebrow and looked around at the group of teenagers before letting out a sigh. She hadn't really gotten anywhere with her mission assignment so getting help might not be a bad idea.

"Alright.. You guys can maybe help me out a bit here. But this merely a consulting role. Not active involvement.", she stated before walking towards the holo computer and typing in some bypassing codes on the looked like she was accessing the league case file database.

Then, several side by side photos and traffic camera footages of men and women appeared on screen.

"This is a missing person's case. Individuals seem to be vanishing all over the interstate without a trace. No signs of struggle no immediate family members, not even a traceable ID registration. What's interesting is the fact that most of the missing individuals are hinted to be metahumans . The league is still in the process of trying to find the viable suspect but currently, we have no leads.", Dinah completed as the teenagers stared at the holoscreen, with Bart audibly munching on a freshly opened bag of crisps.

"So...", Kyle interrupted, rubbing the back of his head. "Someone has something against metas?".

"We can't confirm yet without any solid evidence backing up the theory. These disappearances happen when least expected and it's even more problematic that some of these metas that have been taken end up as dead bodies out on the streets in the morning. I was on my way to one crime scene right now. ", Dinah remarked .

"So.. whaddya want us to do?", Garfield remarked, scratching his head.

"Nothing much. There's already been five such bodies turning up in various parts of the city. If you want to help, you could help me search the bodies for any possible leads. ", Dinah remarked.

"Anything's better than the inefficient usage of time we've been subjected to lately.", Damian remarked smartly as Dinah raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay then... Bart,Damian and Garfield, you could go to the city square block . Barry's already there looking into it. He could use the extra help. ", she remarked and the three of them departed.

"Kyle and Raven , you can head over to the Gotham trade port near the San Francisco Harbor. Homicide case. Batman's there looking into it. ", she stated before turning to Kara and M'gann.

"You two can come with me. ".

* * *

"Homeless stragglers found him an hour ago.", J'onn stated as he and Dinah ran over the specs of the crime scene as Kara and M'gann stood behind them, eyeing the grotesquely mangled metahuman body with disgust. The victim's face had been clean ripped off and they could see his eyeballs and teeth bared at them. It was creepy to look at, even though they knew the guy was dead.

J'onn was undercover as a female CSI on the crime scene and he was running the black canary through what all he had uncovered on the case so far. To be honest, Kara found it weird seeing him as a woman. He looked so convincing. M'gann apparently still couldn't transform into a convincing looking human boy, since it was a much more advanced martian technique that she was yet to master. It was easier to mimic females for her than it was to do a male.

"He's got months of scar tissue buildup . Heavy bruising on the knuckles . He didn't just go down fighting. He made a habit of it.", Dinah remarked as she ran her gloved fingers over the body.

"He..could've been defending himself...", Kara suggested.

"There are no skin rashes under the fingernails. ", J'onn,"These cannot be defensive wounds. Maybe he was the aggressor.".

"Fight gone bad. Somebody panics, kills him-", Dinah stated , "And dumps the body. No casualties... This wasn't just some local street brawl. Can you make a few contacts around the streets?", Dinah remarked.

"I have already made a few calls. I will take the samples back to the hall of justice and have the flash analyze them for leads.", J'onn stated before heading off in a gruff manner, completely ignoring Kara and M'gann.

"Is...he angry at me for some reason?", Kara remarked with a confused expression. M'gann giggled.

"No,silly. Uncle J'onn just tends to get caught up in something he's doing. When he's focused, all he sees is a one-way tunnel.", the teenaged girl remarked with a smile.

"Great..Barry's got a lead..", Dinah remarked as she glanced at her smartphone. "And the target's much closer to our position.".

"Come on, let's go.", the blonde woman remarked hurriedly with Kara and M'gann following her through.

* * *

 _DOWNTOWN CITY DISTRICT, 14:15, EDT_

"I still don't get what the heck we're doing here at this time of the day.", Kara whined for the fifth time as she sipped on her cup of coffee that the trio had bought while waiting for their perp at the designated area, sitting in Dinah's car. The warm sun bathed over the city in it's light. Since the climate was not fully out of it's winter phase yet, the weather was neither too cold nor too hot. Mostly the nights were brisk, compared to the days.

"Barry forgot to mention that our man's not out until the two'O clock shift . We can't go marching in to the resto simply because he may or may not be connected to this whole metahuman thing.", Dinah remarked as she sipped on her own drink.

"Sure we can. You got that techie thingamajig that gives you the fake police department credentials . We can use it like that time you did when we went over to visit Elizabeth Harmon.", Kara pressed on.

"Hah.", Dinah remarked."That... That was different. Plus, just because we have the power doesn't me we should abuse it.", Dinah replied.

"So... you're telling me you've never used you powers for doing menial tasks?", Kara asked with a questioning look on her face.

Their little conversation was broken up by M'gann, who spotted the silhouette of a man rounding the building block, walking discreetly towards them.

"Is that the guy?", she remarked in a low voice so that only the three of them could hear her. Dinah and Kara turned to where M'gann was staring and sure enough, a man with his hood drawn was pacing towards them, a backpack slung over his right shoulder.

As he drew nearer, the three of them got out and Dinah proceeded to walk towards the man, pulling out one of her fake IDs.

"Detective Lance, San Francisco police department.", she stated with a commanding and firm voice.

"So? I didn't do nothin wrong.", he remarked in a gruff, almost tense sounding voice.

"We're investigating a possible homicide.", she stated calmly. Then, as she spoke, the fellow rolled his palms into fists, dropped his bag and caught hold of Dinah by the collar of the leather jacket she was wearing and hurled her backwards, sending her flying off her feet and crashing into a wall of a construction site nearby. He then attempted to punch at Kara but on punching her face, he was blasted backwards by the concussive force. Kara didn't budge an inch as the man lay on the pavement, grasping his fist with a shocked expression on his face.

"Buddy. Don't make it harder than it already is.", Kara remarked coolly.

"I-I didn't kill nobody. ", he stammered as Kara and M'gann walked towards him.

"Then you got no reason to be scared, hoodlum.", Kara snorted as she reached out to grab the guy up off his feet. But just then, a shadowy figure emerged behind Kara and struck her with an electrical baton, knocking her unconscious with a powerful electrical blast.

"Kara!", M'gann yelped and rounded on the man and her eyes began to glow bright emerald as she attempted to hit him with a psychic force blast. But a moment later, she too was hit by another man with a similar electrical baton, knocking her unconscious.

The two masked henchmen signaled the pickup and a black van screeched as it swerved round the corner.

"Grab the girl as doubt she's one of em.",one of the henchmen stated in a gruff voice and the two of them picked up the unmoving figure of M'gann and the man that they were trying to apprehend , loading them into the van before wheeling off into the highway.

Dinah , who had just gotten up from behind hurled into a concrete wall, bolted towards the scene and pulled out her pistol and began firing rapidly at the vehicle's tires in vain as the black van swerved out of view. She could've stopped them with her canary cry but it would've damaged a lot of public property and the league couldn't afford to have another press day with them under public scrutiny .The public opinion about metahumans were tense enough as it is.

She inserted the pistol back in her belt and bent down, rolling Kara's unmoving figure around ,praying that nothing fatal had happened to the teenager.

* * *

"Are you sure you're okay?", Dinah inquired with a tense expression on her face as she helped Kara sit back upright on one of the couches in the common room of the titan's tower. Dinah had brought an unconscious Kara to the tower over twenty minutes prior and the girl of steel had just come to. The blonde teenager looked highly drained and disoriented and there were still electrical discharges moving around her bloodstream as a result of being hit with an almost deadly dosage of high voltage electricity.

"I just got my ass handed to me by some six foot tall bozos in trenchcoats. I'm more embarrassed than hurt.", Kara moaned softly as she rubbed the side of her neck in slight discomfort. As her blurry vision cleared out, she looked around to find Bruce, Barry and the titans, well, most of them, standing around her with concerned expressions on their faces.

"Um.. Where's M'gann?", Kara mumbled, noticing that the chirpy green martian girl was nowhere to be seen.

"The same men that struck you down took her and the man we were supposed to bring in.", Dinah remarked with a slightly guilty looking face. She knew it was her fault for bringing the teenagers in on her case when she shouldn't have. And hence, it was her responsibility to bring them back safe. " So was Garfield. ".

"But we don't know who or why they were taken.", Kyle mumbled .

" Did you see who the men in the van were?", Bruce asked curtly , stepping forward.

"No.. But they weren't just some low rank thugs. Definitely combat trained .", Kara grumbled as she got to her feet and proceeded to drink out of the bottle of water on the table.

"And they would've had access to high profile tech . Not just some gadget can take out a Kryptonian. ", Bruce finished. "I'll look up some database to see what I can find.".

"Meanwhile, you all should stay down for now. Until we know who we're dealing with here.", the batman remarked before he walked out of the door.

/

"So how's it going?", Barry asked as he zipped into the titans tower operation room as Bruce stood over the mainframe computer, using it to track coordinates to the whereabouts of either M'gann or Garfield.

"I've triangulated the position to four possible locations . But it's still impossible to find the correct longitudinal readings off of the software on this computer. ",Bruce replied as he typed on the silvery keyboard.

"You...want me to give you a lift to headquarters?", Barry remarked with a cheeky grin , only to have it returned by an emotionless stare.

"Okay.. Let's see.", the speedster remarked before zipping toward the keyboard. Then, as Bruce watched, Barry's hands began to move around so fast that it became a blur. Then, about a minute of rapid motion later, Barry came to a complete stop and cracked his knuckles with a smirk on his face.

"What? They don't call me the fastest man alive for nothing, you know?", Barry remarked as Bruce gave him a cold stare from underneath his cowl. Barry had run through all possible security codes of the computer and had fastened up Bruce's process and had triangulated the codex to one single location.

"Alert black canary . We head out in five. ",Bruce remarked as he proceeded to walk out the sliding door.

As the batwing took off from the tower,Batman, Black Canary and the flash failed to notice the fact that Kara had seen them taking off.

/

 _UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, ABANDONED WAREHOUSE, CITY OUTER LIMITS , 16:00 EDT_

Bruce was leading Barry and Dinah along towards what looked like the entrance of a vast abandoned indoor docking warehouse, with it's enormous iron doors closed shut. The dull sound of booming orchestral music could be heard coming from within the structure as they approached it. There were seven henchmen standing outside the warehouse doors, dressed in black tuxedos and earpieces plugged in. The evening sky was lit up over them and Barry rubbed his palms together , trying to stave off the brisk cold that surrounded them.

"Uh.. What're we doing here?", he asked with a hint of awkwardness in his voice as he tugged at the collar of his suit in an irritated manner. The three of them were not in their superhero getups but rather in dress suits . Bruce and Barry were dressed up in black and white tuxedos while Dinah was wearing an elegant , tapering red dressthat wrapped around her body, complimenting her figure.

"I had Alfred cross reference the data coordinates your decoded and coincidentally, they matched with the address to an underground get-together that I was invited to by a mystery persona called Roulette. ", Bruce answered as the three of them made their way towards the front doors.

"Right. So if Bruce Wayne is invited, it's gotta be something fancy.", Barry whispered enthusiastically as he pressed his slicked back hair down. This felt very weird to him as he wasn't used to all this fancy clothing.

As one of the henchmen stood back and opened up the twelve foot tall doors, a wave of loud orchestral jazz music washed over the trio , smashing hard against their eardrums, overwhelming them, especially Barry, whose eardrums were vibrating three times as fast as a normal person's.

"God...", he mumbled, digging his index finger into his ear canal and wiggling it to try and reduce the strain. "Is this like some kind of rich people disco house or something?".

While it wasn't any disco or anything remotely similar, the three of them seemed to have walked into some kind of underground entertainment arena. There were a crowd of fashionably dressed men and women walking around, chatting with each other , with intimidating, muscular men standing at regular intervals around the large warehouse, with stoic expressions on their faces, repulsor guns on their belts. In the middle of this gathering was what looked like a wrestling ring, with tall glass walls round the edges of the ring that connected to ceiling, almost thirty feet above . There were two closed door openings within the cage-like setup and it almost looked like one of those arenas that you'd see in those old gladiator fighting movies.

"Who are all these bozos?", Dinah whispered to the other two as she caught sight of an old man staring at her in a lustful manner. She'd have kicked his balls in, but that would cause a commotion and compromise the mission.

"The city's wealthiest . ", Bruce answered in a low voice as he led the other two through the crowd of men and women in stylish and posh clothing.

"I see the head of the city bank, a couple hedgefund managers, and the man who has an eye for you is a city council man.", Bruce answered .

"Okay. So what're they all doing here? What're _we_ doing here?", Barry asked in a restless manner.

"We're about to find out.", Bruce remarked in a low voice as a spectrum of bright white lights flashed over the crowd, blinding everyone ,a commanding, yet taunt, raspy , yet feminine voice began to speak out over the hushed murmuring of the crowd of onlookers.

"We know not who they are nor how they came to be. ", the voice said. Bruce squinted his eyes, focusing his vision in the direction of the voice. "But they are here and they walk among us.", the voice continued.

Then, as the thin layer of smoke began to vanish, a pair of tall, eyecatching legs caught the sight of everyone present in the hall, men and women. There was what looked like a tattoo of a dragon or a snake that wound up her thigh, vanishing into her dress. The woman to whom the voice belonged to came into view, and she had a provocative smirk on her face as she eyed the audience.

She had mostly jet black hair but there was a wave of pure white that hung down over the side of her squarish face, framing it nicely. Her ethnicity looked like she was a mixture of asian descent with caucasian. Her bright red dress was wrapped tightly around her body, emphasizing her curves and had most of the old rich men in the room ogling her figure. She had a beautiful, auburn scarf(which looked like it was made from the skin of a fox) that hung across her bony shoulders.

"My name is Roulette and this is the meta-brawl glammer slam!", she yelled out to the audience, who all roared enthusiastically .

"Is this really a thing?", Barry whispered to Bruce, who remained silent, his eyes fixed on the form of Roulette as she began to sway her hips as she walked towards the glass caged fighting ring in the center of the warehouse.

"There are no rules in my fight club. No laws, no limitations.", she remarked out loud to the audience at large. She then stopped right in front of the cage and turned back to the others as the spotlight was focused on her.

"Every fighter knows the risks and they are here to entertain you.", she finished, holding out her hands to the audience who began to clap earnestly, evidently thrilled at the prospect. As Dinah glanced around, she caught sight of many of the men exchanging notes and wads of cash. They were betting.

"Tonight,", Roulette continued with a smirk on her face. " We've got the killer Bravac himself. And a few new surprise packages that you might want to keep an eye out for!", she finished with bravado as the spotlights shifted off her and onto the fighting arena itself.

"As much as I think this is as illegal as it gets, I've gotta admit. The lady's got flair.", Barry remarked , earning him a cold glare from Dinah.

"She's using metahumans as a form of entertainment... I thought I'd seen it all but this is a new low. It's pathetic! How can the metas even agree to what she wants them to do?", Dinah hissed venomously , glaring daggers at Roulette who had proceeded to take her place on a throne like chair positioned on a raised podium close to the glass caging.

"Somebody's on the wrong side of the canary..", Barry mumbled to himself as he raised his wine glass to his lips.

"This is worse than I thought. Those metahuman bodies that have been turning up? My guess is that they weren't victims of gang fights or street thugs. They were killed here, in the ring.", Bruce remarked as he put the pieces together.

"So..you're saying San Francisco has got an under ground metahuman fight club...", Barry remarked as the realization dawned on him.

Out of one of the metallic doors came a seven foot, humanoid creature, with dorsal spines stuck up on his back and along it's tail. It's skin was reptillian looking and a bit whitish in color. The thing had slits for nostrils and not a single hair on it's head. The reptillian creature stomped forward, out of the doorway and roared out ferociously at the crowd of onlookers who began to cheer.

"Somebody related to Croc?", Barry remarked quietly as Bruce had his eyes fixed on the ring, ignoring the speedster.

"And his challenger, ladies and gentlemen. He is a new recruit so he might be a bit shy.", Roulette began to speak out as the cheering din thinned out. " But do not underestimate his power. He has the ability to transform into any animal he so wishes and the possibilities are endless with such powers. I give you,the one, the only, Beast Boy!", she roared.

Then, the other pair of metal doors burst open and a seven foot green haired, green skinned silver-back gorilla bolted out, roaring terrifyingly at the crowd as he drummed on his chest. Bruce, Barry and Dinah were watching with shocked looks on their faces.

"This is bad..", Dinah whispered to herself .

As they all watched, Garfield slowly turned around and locked his gaze onto the equally intimidating figure of the killer Bravac. The leaguers couldn't put their finger on it but there was something unusually blank in Garfield's eyes. It looked like his rational brain wasn't even working anymore.

"FIGHT!", Roulette remarked out loud over the cheering crowd and instantly, Garfield and his opponent bolted towards each other, locking arms as they began to shove and push each other off balance.

Then, as they watched, Garfield roared out ferociously before morphing himself into a powerful lion. He dug his razor sharp teeth into the Bravac's hide and yanked the seven foot metahuman off his feet and hurled him into the glass caging around them. Upon contact, a surge of electricity passed out of the glass and onto the Bravac, electrocuting him temporarily as the crowd of onlookers cheered in exhilaration.

"I can't believe humanity's come to this.", Dinah hissed as she caught sight of people exchanging wads of cash as Garfield seemed to be winning.

As Garfield stomped towards the Bravac with him laying there with smoke trailing off his body, the metahuman sprang a surprise attack on the teenager, grabbing Garfield by his man and spinning on his heel as he sat the teenager flying off to the other side of the cage, where he received his dosage of electricity. Roaring furiously, Garfield morphed himself into a raging rhino as he charged towards the Bravac, he dug his heels into the ground, anticipating the beastboy's attack.

The Bravac caught hold of the charging Rhino's horn, lifted him off his feet and flung him over head and into the glass caging, which resulted in some of the spectators getting a little alarmed.

"Shouldn't...we be doing something about this?", Barry whispered to Bruce, who shook his head.

"See those four metal disks ?", he instead answered and Barry nodded his head upon seeing four peculiarly shaped devices hovering around the hall.

"Those are High-tech military grade tracing equipment developed by Lexcorp . Those things are designed to record a meathuman's powers and adapt in order to stop them. They may even be able to catch you at your top speed. ", Bruce remarked as Barry snorted a little arrogantly.

"Come on! Do you really think a piece of software can really catch something that travels at the speed of light?", Barry remarked .

"No. You're right. You're welcome to prove me wrong.", Bruce remarked , shooting him a daring look.

"Ya know...Somehow _you_ saying that doesn't really seem encouraging. ", Barry remarked, lowering his gaze and hiding behind his glass of wine.

As they watched, Garfield got back upto his feet and rolled his palms into fists, roaring. He then morphed himself into a tiger and bounded towards the Bravac as the crowd began to cheer in anticipation with each step taken. Then, as the Bravac tried to hold his own, he was easily overpowered and pushed down onto the ground due to Garfield's strength . He then opened his jaws wide and dug his teeth into the Bravac's right shoulder, tugging and tearing at it as his opponent screamed in pain, before yanking it clean off .

The onlooking crowd gasped in horror as Garfield stood back up, his teeth and fur drenched in blood as the Bravac howled and rolled around in pain, clutching at his shoulderblade where his arm had been.

"Holllly..", Bary gasped, a blank expression on his had never seen beastboy so...violent.

"The winner! And still reigning champion tonight! BEAST BOY!", Roulette proclaimed to the crowd and the hall erupted in cheers.

"All right.. that's it..", Bruce remarked and nodded to Barry and Dinah to make the move but before they could do anything, there was a loud crumbling sound that consumed the hall and a second later, a part of the ceiling directly above the fighting ring shattered open, crumbling down as a flash of red and blue came down and landed with a resounding crash onto the fighting ring. As the smoke and dust began to clear and settle, the crowd watched with confused and shocked faces as a blonde girl dressed in a blue and red costume stood in the center of the ring, cracking her knuckles.

"Oh no..", Dinah remarked in shock as she , Bruce and Barry stared at the figure of Kara standing in the center of the ring.

"This just got a whole lot worse..", Barry muttered to himself.

The crowd of onlookers stared at the ring in a moment of shock and then a taunting smirk began to creep up Roulette's face.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!", she called out , turning to the audience with a flourish, her hands raised to her sides at shoulder level. "We have an unexpected and new main event for you tonight..".

Kara , who hadn't understood what was happening and what she had just crashed into, furrowed her brows in confusion as the strange lady in red addressed the audience.

"Something very special indeed. We've heard rumors about you. A new girl of steel! Let's see if you really live up to that shield you wear on your chest!", Roulette remarked with a smirk.

"Meet your opponent, the rising star of this evening, the BEAST BOY!", she yelled out loud as the crowd cheered. A shocked looked shot up Kara's face as she whipped around to find a green, seven foot tall gorilla charging towards her .

Kara easily recognized the figure of her teammate but Garfield failed to recognize her back and he wrapped his gorilla fingers around her torso and flung her across the ring, sending her crashing into the glass casing. Kara grunted and panted as she slowly staggered to her feet, smoke trailing off her from being electrocuted.

"What the...", she began to mutter, rubbing her head in a disoriented state before she caught sight of Garfield bounding towards her. Upon contact, the beast boy shoved her to the ground and had pounced on top of her with his jaws wide open, trying to bite her head off.

"Gar...Nggh.. Wha.. What the heck's wrong with you?! It's me!", she grunted as she struggled to keep the multi tonne gorilla from grabbing a hold of her, her fingers clasped on the ferocious teeth to keep it from digging into her. In a rush of panic, she kicked out at him, sending him flying up into the air and towards the top of the opposite glass caging.

"No! I-I'm sorry!", Kara panted as she got to her feet, seeing the green skinned gorilla shake his head in a disoriented manner with smoke hissing of his body. She didn't know what was happening. In response, Garfield stared at her for a few seconds before a furious glare shot onto his ape face. He reared back up to his hind legs and drummed hard on his chest, roaring at her before he began to bolt in her direction, morphing into a huge grizzly bear, his roars echoing above the din of the cheering crowd.

Kara side stepped the growling girzzly, not hitting back. She repeated this again before trying to fly back upwards. But the grizzly reared back up and dug his teeth into Kara's red cape, yanking her back down and slamming her into the flooring painfully. Kara lay there, groaning in pain, clutching her rib area. Her human DNA had it's bad sides and one of the major flaws was the fact that she was not as invulnerable as her cousin. Sure, she healed a lot faster than him due to her younger physique and she had to be the second most invulnerable after Clark but it still pained . A lot.

As she watched , clenching her teeth, she caught sight of a green furred striped tiger circling the cage boundaries, growling at her ferociously. She knew she could easily take him out but she didn't want to. He was her friend. And she wasn't going to give up on him that easily.

"SNAP OUT OF IT, GAR!", she yelled at her teammate who failed to register a thing she was saying, instead answering it with a threatening roar before he leapt towards her, climbing on top of her as he tried to rip her head off, with Kara helplessly holding him back with her hands on his chest as he snapped his teeth at her.

Just then, a sharp, black shuriken that was curiously shaped like a robin, shot towards the ring, from the hole in the ceiling that Kara had created on her entry. The metal weapon whirred rapidly and struck the green tiger, impaling deep into his hide. As a response, Garfield leapt off of Kara, roaring in pain as he staggered backwards. Then, as the crowd watched , a little confused as to what was happening, a silvery ball fell in, following the shuriken's path and fell to the floor, releasing a puff of ever expanding green smoke.

As Bruce realized what was happening, he got up and at the same time, Dinah followed him up and pulled out a hand pistol she had stashed into her stocking. She pointed it to the ceiling and shot three bullets , increasing the chaos in the hall. Instantly, the onlookers screamed and yelped in confusion as they began to bolt out the hall in numbers, trying to escape the scene as fast as possible.

"Okay. So what do we..", Barry began as he turned to Bruce, only to find that he was talking to thin air. He was already gone.

"That was so rude.", Barry muttered to himself as he began to zip around, knocking out the few armed henchmen around the place who had begun to enclose in on the smoke filled fighting ring.

As the smoke cleared from the ring, Damian, Kyle and Raven stood next to Kara, who was getting back upto her feet, a little shaken. There was no sign of the Bravac or Garfield, who had both seemingly vanished from the scene. The only evidence to their presence was the blood stains on the fighting ring.

Just then, there was the sound of something moving incredibly fast and a second later, Bart came to a screeching halt, stopping next to Barry.

"How's it goin, Gramps?", Bart remarked with a grin as Bruce emerged from somewhere, catching them all unawares.

"Roulette escaped. Not a trace of any of the metahuman fighters either.", he stated in a serious tone before he then turned to direct his stoic glare at the group of teenagers standing in the ring.

* * *

The titans stood in front of the large telescreen that hung down from the ceiling of the titan's tower common room. There was a bitter, somber air in the room as Batman stared down at them through the screen monitor as if he was scanning them for their darkest secrets. It was an unpleasant feeling to say the least. He, Dinah and Barry had returned to the hall of justice to to interrogate some of the henchmen that they had apprehended to get a lead on the Roulette case, although none of them were breaking.

"What you did there was borderline foolish; You disobeyed direct orders and risked your own lives in the process.", Bruce stated commandingly. "This..will not happen again. ".

"To be fair,", Bart interjected unwittingly as Barry clapped a hand to his forehead, standing behind Bruce. You don't just talk back to the Batman.

"We didn't disobey orders since you never actually told us to stay here. And we're just trying to get back Gar and M'gann. They're our friends.", he remarked.

"We weren't trying to uncover the underground metahuman fight club or anything. We were just trying to get our friends back. And Rayner actually sent you a message of our lead but you didn't respond. We will do it again and again, so you can either help us find our friends or you can stop us and we'll do it anyway.", Damian followed through, stepping up and talking with his eyes fixed on his father.

For a few seconds, there was silence. Bruce didn't say anything, merely staring blankly at them through the telescreen.

"You are to remain put until we have closed the case. I assure you, we _will_ find your friends. But you are not to get involved. Shazam will remain in the tower as supervisor for the next two days while the league sorts out this case.", Bruce stated as the tall, muscular justice leaguer stood next to the screen, giving them all a wide grin and a thumbs up .Before anyone else could argue any further, the telescreen monitor went black.

"I can't wait to hang out with you guys!", Shazam exclaimed with an almost childlike grin plastered on his face. "So what do you guys do around here for fun?".

At having an adult talk to them as if they were little children, the titans exchanged bewildered glances with each other.

"Um..", Bart mumbled, scratching his head awkwardly, "There's the playstation game still running..".

"Great!", Shazam remarked and floated over towards the couch, indiscreetly mumbling to himself about how this beat having to sit through the class test today. Bart shrugged in a bewildered fashion and followed the justice leaguer through, sitting down next to him and picking up the other controller.

"Well... that happened..", Kyle muttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly .

"As much as I respect father. He should let us deal with our problems on our own instead of having people babysit us all the time. ", Damian remarked coldly as he walked off.

/

"Any leads yet?", Barry asked as he zipped into the intel room of the hall of justice . Bruce stood in front of the giant computer monitor, rubbing his chin with furrowed brows as he tried to decode a hint of the blood sample of Garfield that he had taken off of Kara's suit . It was crucial if they were to understand who they were up against.

"And..uh... Sorry about the way Bart just spoke to you. He.. He didn't mean it. Ya know how kids are these days..Or... Um.. fifty years from now in his case.", Barry chuckled awkwardly, trying to ease the tension. But Bruce completely ignored the statement as his mind was fixated on some unknown bio-component that the computer had picked up.

"I've cross referenced that data analysis with known elements of the periodic table and there's not a single match for every permutation I've tried with every compound. We might get a lead on Roulette if we can figure out what this thing is and what it does.", he remarked, furrowing his brows.

"Well...", Barry sighed, cracking his knuckles as he moved towards the computer keyboard. "Are you going to ask or should I begin?", he remarked, asking for permission to use the keyboard, upon which Bruce nodded.

Barry grinned and set to work. For a few minutes, there was nothing but him clicking away at the keyboard at the speed of sound. His finger and eyes were moving so fast that it had become a blur and the monitor screen itself was changing so fast that to a normal human it looked like the system was malfunctioning.

"This is a lotta work. Jeez..It would've taken you like five days to crack this baby.", Barry chortled as he worked, his finger moving in a rapid blur.

Just then, their comms link went online and Dinah's voice crackled through.

" _Black Canary to Batman. I have contact.",_ she stated. She had been deployed back to the site of the underground metahuman wrestling arena to try and find more leads to trace the lady ring leader.

"Any other clue you can pick up around there?", Bruce asked . For a few seconds, there was no answer.

" _Um... We have more bad news...",_ she stated indiscreetly.

Dinah was standing in the middle of a vast, vacant warehouse that used to be the arena that the trio had visited just over four hours ago. She was looking around at an expanse of nothingness now. Everything had disappeared without a trace.

"Everything's been cleared out. There's not a single loose end . It's like they were never even here.", she stated in a disappointed manner.

Bruce slammed his fist down and grit his teeth. He underestimated the woman. He should've placed a tracker on one of the fighting metas. Now he had idea where the next fight was going to happen .

/

 _TITAN'S TOWER, 20:15 EDT_

Kara stood near the glass paned wall length windows of the common room that looked out over the bay as the inky black sky stretched out over the landscape, with the crescent moon casting it's luminescent glow on the troposphere.

She had an evidently frustrated and perturbed expression on her face as she stood , her arms crossed. The sound of the video game that Shazam and Bart were engrossed in echoed in the background but Kara's mind was still fixated on the sight she had seen of Garfield . She had never seen him so...violent and animalistic. Sure, his power _was_ the ability to transform into any member of the animal kingdom but he still retained a human mind. But this time, had didn't looked like he had any control. It was like had was turned into a full on bloodthirsty animal.

"You've been oddly silent about the events today, Zor-El.", Damian's raspy voice remarked as the teenager walked up next to her, his hands dug into his jacket pocket. "I would've expected you to be vocal about all this..", he continued.

"What do you want?", Kara remarked in an irritated voice. She wasn't in the mood for his snide comments and arrogant persona. He didn't respond immediately though.

"I can't believe they still treat us like babies. And to top it all off, my cousin's not around to back me up when I need him. ", Kara huffed grumpily .

"He couldn't have done anything eitherways. Even if he is the man of steel, what my father says, goes.", Damian answered nonchalantly as Kara gave him a sideways glance.

"I thought we're supposed to be on the same page here.", She mumbled to which he smirked.

"Father said that they had cleared out the warehouse we visited yesterday, so there's no use going back there to check it my guess is correct, and it most likely is, the justice league will not be be knowing where the next metahuman fight is going to happen. Not yet anyway. ", Damian continued, ignoring her comment.

"Great. Not helping though.", Kara grumbled.

"Unless , let's say, somebody were to place a tracker on one of the metas fighting, we wouldn't have a lead to follow.", he continued as Kara's expression changed as she was trying to understand where he was going with this.

"Right. But... Don't you think the league would've gotten them by now if they _did_ put a tracker on one of them?", Kara asked.

"Right. But what if we did their job before them? We catch the ring leader before the league finds out ?", Damian answered with a smirk.

"Wait a second.. You're not saying that you..", Kara mumbled in slight astonishment as she began to put the pieces of what Damian was saying. As an answer, he held up a cylindrical , silvery pen-like device whose tip was blinking red in a slow rhythm.

"I took the initiative of injecting Beastboy with a micro-tracker when I impaled him with the birdarang. It's a form of bio-tech but it's pretty unstable. I don't know when the thing could go off, so we need to make a move fast. Are you in?.", Damian remarked smartly with a blinked at him for a few seconds, unable to comprehend how the teenager had done all this in such a short amount of time. She was almost twenty times as fast as him and yet, she could never have thought up all this .

"If you're suggesting that we go and get Gar and M'gann out on our own, I'm in. But how're we gonna ditch Captain Man-child over there?", she remarked , nodding towards Shazam , who punched the air in an exhilarated fashion as he beat Bart in the game they were playing.

" Elementary. I've got that covered.", Damian remarked with a smirk.

/

"How long d'you think it'll be before Shazam finds out we're gone?", Kara asked as she, Raven and Damian walked on the rooftop of the titan's tower. They would have enough altitude and space now for Raven to open a stable portal for them to go through in order to get to Garfield and M'gann.

"Considering the fact that it's Shazam we're dealing with, I'd see we've got a considerable amount of time. Rayner and Allen know what they have to do. They can manage it.", Damian answered before he pulled out a rectangular tables the size of a smartphone. There was a algorithmic diagram of the city displayed on screen with a red blinking dot being shown towards the north end of the city.

"Let's go.", he stated and Raven pulled her hood over her head before she held her arm out in front of her. Her eyes began to glow ominously as a circular portal opened up from thin air , right in front of them.

Back down in the common room, Bart and Shazam were still locked in their game when all of a sudden, the justice leaguer noticed something strange and hit the pause button on the controller.

"Hey, guys.. Um... Is it just me or were there more of you when I got here?", he remarked, looking around in a skeptical manner.

Kyle, who was sitting at the dining table scrolling through his phone, pursed his lips and made caught Bart's eye as they tired to work up an excuse.

"Uh.. Yeah. There were more of us.. Um.. But they had to..um..", Kyle began, and Bart piped up with a makeshift genuine grin on his face.

" Go to the bathroom! Gastric distress or something like that.", he remarked in an innocent voice. Kyle slapped his palm onto his face as Shazam looked at the speedster skeptically .

"So they all went to the toilet... together?", Shazam inquired, rubbing his chin in a confused manner as Bart nodded giving him a toothy grin.

"You guys are weird...", the justice leaguer then replied , taking Bart and Kyle by surprise before he returned to the game, leaving the speedster to shrug at Kyle in a bewildered fashion. That was close. They really need to work up more plausible excuses than what they had just said.

/

 _NORTH SAN FRANCISCO BAY DOCKYARD, 21: 23 EDT_

There was a low, dimmed out sound of people cheering voraciously , echoing through the night, emanating from the abandoned dockyard of the bay area. The crowd had gathered within the enclosed metallic cargo hold of the dockyard, where the new fighting arena had been set up. As usual, there were armed henchmen strolling around the perimeter , patrolling the area so that they don't have uninvited guests like the previous encounter. Most, if not all of the patrolling men, had a yellow and black squarish armband on their right sleeve.

"Were those fights dangerous enough?!", Roulette called out to the crowd, standing on a slightly raised podium in the middle of the audience who encircled her.

"NO!", the crowd jeered back, pumping their fists while holding a drink in their other.

"Were they violent enough!?", she called out, to which they repeated their previous response.

"Tonight that changes! ", she remarked out loud, raising the glass that was in her own hand, towards the crowd.

"Our gladiators will fight for the privilege of being the one who steps out of that ring alive. Winner takes all, ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, it is a fight to the death!", she yelled as the dockyard boomed in cheers, and the sound could be heard dully outside in the dockyards.

Unseen by the patrolling henchmen, on top of one of the the large metallic cargo containers that hung almost thirty feet up in the air from an non-operational cargo crane, a portal opened and Raven walked out, followed by Damian and Kara.

"Okay. Now what?", Raven asked coarsely as Kara slammed her fist into her palm , cracking her knuckles.

"We hit em hard . Show em who they're messin with. I've got a lot of pent up frustration to let out.", she stated with a snort but her idea was quickly cut off by Damian, who was already crouched at the edge of the cargo container, a pair of high-tech binoculars held over his eyes.

"No.", he rebuffed her. "I count at least twenty four armed thugs patrolling the facility. ", he remarked, scrolling the knob on the binoculars to zoom in on the vision.

"I'll take out the guards on the east sector. Zor-El, the west border's all yours. ",he stated before standing up, pocketing the device and turning to Raven as he pulled out his tablet.

"The tracker says that Beastboy and miss martian are inside the cargo hold. Raven, you can go in and try and find them. Send a word when you do.", he remarked and the two girls nodded before the three of them split up.

/

Raven floated down towards an area of the cargo hold when there seemed to be no patrol in site. Her eyes lit up white as she turned herself transparent and walked right through the metallic walls of the structure, phasing through it.

Near the eastern sector of the cargo dock, four of the armed henchmen were patrolling in pairs, wearing heat vision goggles over their eyes to detect any sign of possible intruders. Then, out of nowhere, a shadow crept up behind one of the pairs and before they knew what was happening, Damian smashed the heads of two of the henchmen together. Having done so, he knew he now had to move fast or else risk having one of the others spot the unconscious bodies.

Slipping round a corner, he peeked out around the metal wall to spot two henchmen walking straight towards him. He easily noticed the heat vision goggles over their eyes and pulled out the pill he had stolen from Dick(the one which could conceal the body heat temporarily). Putting the pill into his mouth, he pulled out a birdarang and hurled it at one of the men, impaling them on the kevlar.

"What the hell is ..", the man began to mutter as he and his partner glanced down at the weird looking weapon that stuck out of his vest but before he could complete the sentence, a valve on the birdarang opened and opaque green smoke shot out, creating a small cloud around the two men and upon inhalation, the two of them rapidly began to lose their consciousness and before long, they crumpled to their knees , unmoving.

"Hm. Pathetic. I was expecting more of a fight. ", Damian mumbled to himself, standing up. He then pulled out his grappling gun and zipped out, moving to a new vantage point to take out the rest of his targets.

Back inside the cargo hold, Raven was passively floating around the background room where the fighting metahumans, almost thirty of them, were being held in shock inducing cages, fitted with inhibitor collars around their necks. Since she was basically invisible , nobody could see the teenaged girl moving around the area, but the sight in front of her was not any less disturbing. These metahumans were being treated like they were animals or something.

"Guys.. There are a _lot_ of metas caged up here but ...no sign of M'gann or Gar yet...", Raven whispered into her earpiece.

" _Keep looking. They've gotta be around here somewhere. The tracker's still picking up the signal coming from inside. And Raven, be careful."_ , Damian's voice crackled out of her earpiece. Raven nodded before remembering that Damian couldn't see her right now.

/

As the last henchman rounded a corner, his face dropped in shock as he took notice of the ground littered with the bodies of his unmoving comrades. As he stood there, shocked and confused, a raspy, tauntful voice spoke up behind him.

"Don't worry. They're not dead. I don't kill anymore. ", a teenaged boy's voice remarked and as the man spun on his heel, taking a hold of the rifle that hung around his neck, his face was met with the heel of Robin and a second later, the last henchman fell to the floor in a heap.

"You took longer than I thought.", Kara's voice remarked from above him and as he looked up, he saw the girl of steel floating down towards him , her cape flapping around her in the moonlight.

"And yet, if it weren't for me, we wouldn't even be here right now. ", Damian remarked back, rebuffing her instantly . Just as she was about to talk back to him, Raven's voice crackled out of both their earpieces.

" _Uh.. guys...",_ her voice crackled.

Back inside the cargo hold, Raven was still searching for their teammates when she heard Roulette's voice announce to the exuberant crowd.

Tonight's main event! Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen! IT'S THE BEAST BOY VERSUS THE LAST DAUGHTER OF MARS, MISS MARTIAN!", she yelled out to the crowd as they roared in exhilaration. Raven's eyes widened in shock as the front doors in the fighting ring slid open and a raging green furred tiger sprang out as the figure of M'gann walked out of the other door.

"I think I just found Gar and M'gann...", Raven muttered into her earpiece .

Backoutside, Kara and Damian were standing stock still as Raven's voice emanated out of their earpieces. " _They're the main event..."._

The two titans stared at each other for a few seconds and then, before Damian could stop her, Kara rocketed skywards before shooting right back down, aiming towards the roof of the metallic cargo hold.

"Zor-El , no!', Damian yelled but it was in vain. Kara had already made up her mind.

/

Back inside, Garifled was being repeatedly slammed into the electric glass cage as M'gann had her mind telepathically taking control of her teammate's body, inflicting pain on the green tiger who howled in front of her. After about seven hits, M'gann let him plonk down to the floor in a heap as black smoke drifted off his electrocuted body. Slowly, as Garfield got back to his feet, the crowd cheered madly . They wanted more.

Roaring at M'gann, Garfield morphed himself into a large pterodactyl and shot towards her at incredible speeds. Before she could react, he had grabbed onto her with his talons and yanked her off her feet before sending her hurtling into the ceiling, where she yelled out in pain as a surge of electricity shot through her body. Garfield landed as M'gann plummeted back down, crashing into the floor , struggling to get back up. The crowd began to boo since she seemed to be so easily taken down. This wasn't enough. They paid for more. A small smile crept across the edge of Roulette's lips as she watched the jeering crowd.

Then, as they watched, M'gann's face shot up, a furious look in her glowing eyes as she again took control of Garfield's body. She got back to her feet and began slamming him into the floor repeatedly, again and again. Then, she grit her teeth and decided to end the fight. She stretched out her arms , grasping an invisible hold on Garfield's limbs , preparing to tear them off his torso .

But just before she proceeded through with it, the ceiling above them shattered and the metal broke open , tearing into pieces as a blue and red blur sped towards the ring, crashing right in between M'gann and Garfield, forcing M'gann to lose her hold on the latter and duck for cover from the plummeting shards of metal.

There was chaos and screaming among the crowd momentarily before they caught sight of the new entrant. The blonde girl decked in a uniform similar to that of Superman stood in the middle of the ring, her eyes glowing red, glaring at them was the same girl from the previous night.

"I thought this might happen..", Roulette mumbled to herself in a bored manner.

"I'm shutting you down, Roulette.", Kara roared at the figure of the woman dressed in the sleek , blood red dress gown, sitting on a silvery throne on a raised podium in the middle of the crowd.

"Unlikely.", she retorted back, with a taunting smirk , as if she wasn't at all bothered by the presence of a Kryptonian in the hall with her.

"You're conducting illegal fights! Using metahumans as a form of entertainment. You're breaking the law!",Kara yelled back, fighting to keep her temper in. She wanted to fry the woman on the spot more than anything.

"Technically, they're not full humans. So I'm not breaking any law here, child. And secondly, they're free to go. You're friends are free to leave if you can convince them to.", she stated with a smirk, simply taking a sip from her glass in a cool manner.

Kara glanced around at both M'gann and Garfield and noticed that they weren't moving at all. There was something off about them. They looked unnatural, even. They both stood on either side of Kara, near the edges of the cage walls, glaring daggers at her.

"See, these... Freakshows, not unlike yourself, have no place in this world. They're an unfortunate creation of nature and have no purpose in society. Of course, the could all just get costumed up and fly around like you do. But.. where's the fun in that?", Roulette remarked her remark, the onlooking crowd clapped and jeered at Kara.

"See.. there's a hard truth you're trying to deny here, supergirl. ", Roulette continued. "People don't care what happens to these freaks ...and aliens like you. But they do care about dogs.. And cats.. It's just the way things work,dear.".

Kara's eyes slowly dimmed down as a shocked and disgusted expression crept across her face. How could someone talk like that? Sure, they were different from other humans but in the end, they were all living , breathing beings. It hit her hard more than anything else because it reminded her of the fact that she was of neither world. Neither of Krypton, nor of earth. She didn't know where she belonged.

"You're... Sick..", she croaked out as she grit her teeth.

"And you're naïve.", Roulette finished her with a smirk. "Neither you nor the justice league will be able to change anything. Sure, in the short term, you might turn a few heads but in the end, you will always be what you try to deny. A freak. I'm just a lady who's making the most of the opportunity and giving the people a show. ".

Kara was standing unprepared as M'gann shot towards her and increased her density, therefor increasing her strength tenfold. Having done so, she swung her heel around and struck Kara straight in the chest, sending her rocketing off her feet and crashing into the glass wall where she was hit by a surge of electrical current. The crowd cheered in exhilaration with Kara lying on the ground, groaning as M'gann and Garfield began to corner her.

As Kara slowly staggered to her feet, shaking herself out of her disoriented state, she felt a strong grip enclose around her torso and before long, she was being yanked off the ground by Garfield, who had morphed into a seven foot gorilla. He hurled her across the ring like a rag doll, towards M'gann, who reduced her density so that Kara flew right through her, crashing into the cage walls on the other side.

M'gann then turned around and formed an invisible hold on Kara, lifting her off the ground before she began to slam her into the cage wall again and again, inducing Kara to the electrical shots that surged through her body upon making contact with the glass. The crowd cheered in jubilation as an impressed look crept across Roulette's face.

Then, as M'gann raised Kara( who was struggling in her psychic grasp) yet again , the green skinned martian all of a sudden screamed out , clutching at her head as if in terrible pain. She crumpled to the ground on her knees, clawing at her head as the cheering crowd suddenly lost their euphoria as confusion swept across the room.

Then, as they watched, a black, hooded figure descended from the ceiling, her palm outstretched and her eyes glowing pearly white from under the hood. Raven landed in front of a panting Kara , her eye fixed on M'gann's form, holding down her out of control teammate.

"Enough.", she stated to the room at large.

As M'gann crouched on the floor, looking to be in considerable pain, Garfield morphed himself into a green fearsome lion and roared at Raven before he bolted toward her . Raven was about to raise her hand to blast him with an hex when a black birdarang shot towards the ring from the ceiling and impaled into the floor just a few centimeters away from Garfield. A second later, the weapon exploded, blasting the green lion off his feet, sending him crashing backwards into the glass wall on the opposite side of the ring.

As everyone watched, Damian leapt down , landing in front of Raven, spinning his Bo staff around his shoulder with his black hood drawn up.

"Hmm.. This just keep getting better and better.", Roulette stated snidely to herself. "Bring in the asset.", she added to one of the men standing next to her , who nodded. She then turned to the crowd and stood up tall with a smile on her face.

"We are in for a treat today, ladies and gentlemen! We have a new main event for you tonight! A triple threat match up! ", she announced as the crowd roared and clapped.

"Our three newcomers will go up against Beast boy, Miss martian and our undefeated champion, KING SHARK!", she remarked with bravado and instantly, the crowd erupted in cheers and thunderous applause as a circular port beneath the fighting ring slid open and a huge, eight foot, ferocious looking...something emerged onto the ring, elevated upwards on a platform.

His grey, slimy, scaly skin gleamed as the spotlight fell on him. His sullen, yellow eyes had slit-like pupils that scanned the area around him as he rose up. His upper torso resembled that of a great white shark, dorsal fin and all, except for the fact that he had large, muscular arms, the size of an average car's body length, with veins that popped out. He wore synthetic fiber pants that stuck to his legs , outlining his muscly figure and it accentuated his intimidating appearance.

King shark fixed his eyes on the three in the ring with him, Miss martian and Beastboy. He rolled his palms into fists , bared his razor edged teeth (which was the length of an average human arm ) and growled at them to show his displeasure.

"We are waaay in over our heads...", Raven murmured as she, Kara and Damian stared up at the beast with shocked faces.

"This one's all yours, Zor-El...", Damian muttered as the three of them looked one, standing in the ring, facing the behemoth of a metahuman and their two (apparently brainwashed ) friends.

Then the eight foot tall metahuman roared viciously and bolted towards the three of them, his teeth bared and his knuckles raised. Damian roared simultaneously and charged forward, swinging his staff around.

Inches before he would make contact with King Shark, Damian stuck the end of his staff on the floor and used it like a pole vault to propel himself up and over the eight foot tall giant, who dug his heels into the floor and snapped his jaws at Damian who narrowly managed to swerve his body out of his range. As King shark turned around, he was too late to react to the sight of the blonde teenaged kryptonian rocketing towards him head on and before he knew it, her fist had met with his lower jaw, sending him flying back and crashing into the electric glass wall. But the shot of electricity didn't seem to bother him too much as he quickly got back up to his feet, shook his head and charged towards Kara as she shot towards him.

Damian was locked in combat with a green furred grizzly bear, who was clawing at him , forcing him to duck and dodge around to avoid being struck.

"I don't know if you can hear me in there, Garfield. But I'm trying my best not to hit you back. ", Damian remarked as he swiveled out of the way to avoid one of Garfield's paw slashes. With each attack, the crowd cheered and jeered as if they were watching some football match . It was sick.

"Though I will admit you are pushing me to the edge of my patience.", Damian admitted as he backflipped . He then clambered onto the green bear's back and wrapped his legs around his neck before sliding his staff in front of Garfield's neck as he began to try and force him unconscious by choking him. For a few seconds, it seemed to be working as Garfield clawed and scratched, trying to reach at Damian in vain. As a bear, he didn't really have much flexibility, to say the least. Then, finally admitting defeat, the green furred bear roared and began to bolt towards the glass wall on all fours,with the intention of squashing Damian to the wall. Damian knew that if he were to get hit to the wall even once, he would be knocked out by the electrocution.

At the last second, he managed to summersault off of the bear's back , landing on his knees as the bear collided with the wall, receiving a surge of electricity that passed through his body.

"Is that all you got,beast boy?", Damian taunted, beckoning him forward as Garfield got to his feet, shaking himself out of his stupor. Rearing onto his hind legs, Garfield bellowed in anger, morphing into a giant anaconda that shot towards the teenaged robin.

King shark wrapped his palms around Kara's torso and brought her closer to his jaws, ready to bite her head off. In a desperate attempt, Kara's eyes began to glow crimson as she shot heat vision at the violent metahuman, forcing him to drop Kara and stagger back, clutching at his shoulder. Then, in anger she charged towards Kara, grabbed her by the cape as she attempted to fly out of range and spun her around twice like a ragdoll before hurling her into the electric glass walls.

"I've never eaten a kryptonian before..", the eight foot tall metahuman remarked , snapping his jaws as he stomped towards Kara, who was slowly getting back to her feet, with the smoke of electrocution trailing off her body.

"And that record's gonna continue, pal..", she grumbled, throwing up her fists like a boxer before she flew in his direction.

Raven was busy repelling M'gann's punches and telepathic blasts with her own energy barriers. The green martian girl was definitely _a lot_ stronger than she let on. She had changed her density so that it almost felt like Raven was fighting a Kryptonian of sorts.

"M'gann!", Raven grunted as she fought to keep her out of control teammate at bay. "Snap out of it! We're you're friends! ".

"You're wrong!", M'gann roared ferociously , shooting Raven with invisible fore blasts. There was an unnatrually violent and cold look on her green face as she fought Raven with the intention of killing her. "I have no friends! I have NO ONE!".

With that, M'gann's eyes began to glow bright green as she blasted Raven off her feet, sending her flying backwards, rolling on the floor .

"M'gann...I don't wanna do this...", Raven grumbled as she got to her feet, her eyes glowing pearly white, with her opponent flying towards her . She raised her arms out in front of her, aimed at the advancing M'gann. "But you leave me no option!".

" _Necronom Hesberek MORTIX!",_ Raven yelled out the last word of her incantation and simultaneously, black disks of energy formed around her palms, encasing them. The teenager aimed her energy at M'gann's figure and as a result, the black ethereal energy shot out of of her hands and wrapped itself around M'gann, forming a vapor-ish black outline around the martian's body. Having done so, Raven now had complete control over her teammate's body and M'gann began to scream in pain as Raven fed her mind with her darkest fears and images. While she was distracted, Raven blasted M'gann backwards, sending her hurtling back to the opposite side of the ring and into the glass field , where an electrical current surged through her body, leaving her a crumpled mess on the floor.

For a second, the crowd seated behind M'gann were silent . Then they erupted in mad cheers, since all this was nothing but pure entertainment for them.

Damian flipped back to avoid Garfield's jaws as M'gann had flown past their heads. Beastboy paused his attack mid way and turned back to stare at Raven, who was standing at the other end of the ring, seeming a little drained. He morphed into a giant gorilla, bellowed out loud as he drummed his chest and bounded in Raven's direction with a ferocious look on his face.

Damian , seeing his opponent leave, turned his attention to M'gann, who was now fully back on her feet, albeit a little tired looking.

"This should be interesting.", he muttered to himself as her gaze locked onto him.

/

Shazam paused the video game and let out a loud burp . He then grinned to the other two titans sitting on either side of him, giving him incredulous looks.

"Where do you guys keep the soda? ", he remarked . Kyle shook himself out of his disbelief and nodded towards the silver fridge in the kitchen area.

"Kori usually keep them in the fridge over there. Help yourself.", he remarked .

"Awesome!", Shazam exclaimed , getting up and hovering over to the fridge, leaving Bart and Kyle to exchange glances with each other.

"Tell me that it's not just me who's weirded out right now.", Kyle muttered .

Just then, a boom tube opened up in the middle of the common room and Batman, Black Canary, Cyborg and the Martian Manhunter emerged out of it. In the sudden of shock of having a boom tube open up in the middle of the room, Shazam, who was mid way trying to open the soda glass bottle with the bottle opener, exerted too much of his strength, resulting in him seemingly crushing the bottle in his grip as the soda fizz shot out of the bottle and onto his face, drenching him in it.

The new entrants gave their colleague a look of disbelief .

Batman then looked around the strangely empty common room before his eyes fell on Kyle and Bart, who were sitting on the couch in front of the telescreen with blank expressions on their faces.

"Where are the others?", Batman remarked, going straight to the point, to which Kyle and Bart exchanged quick glances with each other.

"Uh...Who..Who are we talkin about right now?", Kyle chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

"You know, your teammates, people around your age. Raven, Kara and Damian. I'm sure you know them.", Dinah followed up, stepping forward as Shazam cleaned himself up and hovered on over , joining the other leaguers in the common room. Kyle pursed his lips and nervously dug his hands into his pant pockets , something Batman had noticed to get the hint that something was up.

"Oh yeah! ', Bart exclaimed with a delightful grin as the other turned their gaze to him . " Raven and Damian had some... whatevering... issues and she got mad and then _he_ got mad and then she turned him into a turtle and chased him into her bedroom. Also, a giant kraken showed up and ate my nachos. And Kara said to ' _leave me alone!'_. Girl issues or something. I guess. ".

At the end of Bart's second poor attempt at coming up with an excuse, the others, including Kyle, were gazing at him with cocked eyebrows.

"Bart, this is serious. Your friends don't know what they're dealing with here. Even we had trouble finding out who the ring leader was and how's she's connected to all this.", Batman remarked, stepping forward in an intimidating fashion whereupon Bart took a step back, tensing up slightly.

"So I'm going to ask you again. _Where are they?"._

Bart and Kyle held their breath, hoping someone would intervene and change the situation but nothing happened. Bart let out a breath, finally giving in. He could afford the wrath of his teammates but not Batman. That was a whole other story.

"Okay.. They found out where Gar was being kept and the three of them went after him. They're at the north bay dockyard of the city. Please don't tell em I told you.", the speedster remarked . Shazam, who was standing next to Cyborg, bit his teeth in a tense fashion.

"Oh no.. I'm in so much trouble right now...", he muttered to Victor, who snorted.

"I can't believe it...", Dinah remarked as Cyborg opened up another boom tube. Batman walked through it, followed by the rest of the league , leaving Kyle and Bart in an uncomfortable silence.

"Dude...where do you come up with such stuff? ", Kyle remarked, shaking his head.

"They're probably gonna hate us for this... ", Bart mumbled quietly .

/

Garfield ( who was in the form of a green lion) , was blasted backwards by one of Raven's hexes, forcing Kara to duck to avoid the lion as it flew over her head, crashing into the other side. Raven flew towards Garfield and held out her hand.

"Stay down. You don't know what you're doing!", Raven remarked as a final warning, only to have Garfield roar at her in anger before he lurched up to slash at her. She ducked out of the way before her eyes began to glow white, focusing on his energy.

" _Azarath. Metrion. ZINTHOS!",_ she remarked, yelling out her incantation and as she did so, a black surge emanated out of her palms, hitting Garfield head on, engulfing him in it's energy. The hex began to strike Garfield down, sending surges of pain through his body as he got blasted backwards and as a result, he morphed back into his teenaged self, crumpling to the floor , unconscious. The crowd booed as Raven floated down to his side and focused her energy on his body, trying to heal him.

Kara was locked in a death grip with the giant, muscly arms of king shark wrapped around her neck, and if she wasn't a part kryptonian, her neck would've been crushed right now under the pressure.

"Get...ngh.. Off me!", she grunted, trying to push him off of her.

She attempted to fly up but the metahuman opened his jaws out wide and attempted to bite into her shoulder. While his teeth didn't manage to pierce her skin, it didn't stop her from feeling the pain of a shark's jaws biting into her.

"ARRGHH!", she screamed out in pain as they two of them sunk back to the ground. The crowd cheered in anticipation as they watched the two remaining duels proceed.

"You asshole!", Kara roared in anger as she used all her strength to leap up off the floor. She managed to shove the beast off of her body , holding him above her head, hovering mid air. With a grunt of frustration, she hurled the metahuman at the glass wall around them and this time, due to King shark's body mass and the force with which Kara had flung him , the glass cage walls seemingly cracked and shattered open.

The crowd of spectators who had been sitting behind the glass , cheering on the scene, went dead quiet momentarily as the glass in front of them cracked. Then as the shark fell through, moving towards them with each second, they screamed out in terror and dispersed in a chaotic manner, managing to evacuate the section of the stands just in time before King shark crashed violently into the very place they were seated in, breaking the concrete seating into chunks and crumbs of derelict debris.

"That was...unexpected...", Roulette remarked irritably, getting to her feet.

The metahuman struggled to get back up to his feet in a groggy manner, only to catch sight of Kara as she shot towards him, roaring out with a furious look on her face, her fists raised.

Damian hurled three shurikens at M'gann, who blasted them off target with her psychic power, which seemed a lot stronger than teenaged robin was ducking and weaving as M'gann was using her psychic power to lift up parts of the shattered debris lying around and hurling at him.

With each step, he was attempting to get close to her and once close enough, he flipped over her head and brought down his staff, attempting to strike her focal point just enough to knock her unconscious. But as his staff made contact with her, she simply shifted her density enough so that staff seemingly passed right through her body.

"What the...", Damian muttered in shock before the green martian girl whipped around and shot her hand at him, blasting him back off his feet, sending him flying backwards and crashing into the stands behind them.

Kara and king shark were engaged in a destructive brawl. Both of them were landing solid punches on each other and although Kara's punches were pretty solid, with her hands moving in a blur,her opponent's skin, which was an incredibly rubbery and thick, prevented him from sustaining any permanent damage. Kara attempted to fly out from underneath him but he caught a hold of the hem of her cape and yanked her back down before punching her face into the concrete floor below them.

As Kara lay on the ground, clutching her head in pain, the eight foot tall metahuman stomped upto her and placed his fight foot on top of her, squashing her between his weight and the floor beneath them, which began to crack due to the extreme force being exerted on it.

"Kryptonian trash.", King shark grumbled in a gurgling voice as he snapped his jaws at her, holding her head to the ground with one hand while raising his other hand up to smash her head in as she struggled under his grip.

As a last attempt, her eyes began to glow bright red as crimson beams erupted out her eye sockets, striking king shark right on his face, forcing him to let go of her and stumbled back, roaring in pain as he clutched at his hit vision had found it's mark, striking him right in his eyes.

In a burst of anger, Kara shot up and landed a punch on his face, and while she was about to follow through, she found her fists locked in his grip yet again but this time, she'd had enough of him. Roaring in the effort, she flew forward, used the fact that he had a grip on her, yanked him off his feet and flung her arms , letting go of him, sending him crashing straight through the thick concrete walls of the containment building. As he fell through, Kara flew in after him and, with all the energy she could muster, punched him as hard as she could on his jaw, sending him flying further out, landing in a heap almost thirty feet away from the building.

As Kara flew towards him and raised her fist yet again to pummel him down in her anger, she noticed that he was motionless. Fearing that she may have inadvertantly killed him, she increased her sense of hearing and a wave of relief washed over her as she heard the incoherent beating of the metahuman's heart. He was alive but he still looked like he would be out of commission for a jaw seemed to have dislodged from their sockets completely. She really needed to keep her anger in check lest she end up killing someone with her power.

Back inside,Damian felt disoriented slightly as he got back to his feet, with a trail of blood oozing out of his nose.

Just as he looked back up, he was greeted by the sight of M'gann flying towards him with an aggressive look. Instinctively, he whipped out three silvery pellets from his belt and hurled them at her and upon contact, the pellets released a sort of foamy substance that began to harden itself around her rapidly, trapping her within.

Seeing his staff lying on the floor, a few feet away behind the now trapped M'gann, Damian sprang up and bolted past her, running toward the weapon. But as he ran past her, he felt a strange sensation and a second later, he felt an invisible force enclose in around his body . As he was forcibly lifted off his feet and turned around, he came face to face with M'gann, who was hovering towards him, her hand raised at him. There was something terrifying about her and definitely intimidating.

Slowly, he began to feel her force grip enclose around his throat and he began to writhe his legs and torso around, clawing at his neck as he struggled to escape her grip.

"M'gann.. Ungh.. Wha- What the hell's wrong...with you...", he managed to croak out but she didn't reply, instead answering him with a scowl as her eyes began to glow bright green, her auburn hair flying off her face.

Instantly, images and memories of Damian's troubled past began to flood his mind's eye. His mother, his grandfather. His years as a child being subjected to the toughest of treatments by his grandfather, whom he had grown to respect, not love. He had never known began to see visions of everyone he cared about. His father, his teammates. Raven. All of them dying in front of his eyes. Deathstroke.

He felt every strand of his mind getting harshly readjusted and tampered with. She was seeing what he was seeing. It wasn't like it was with Raven, who saw his memories but it didn't really harm him. This was much, much worse.

Damian yelled out in agonizing pain, with his saliva oozing out of the corner of his mouth as she tore into his mind and he was seconds away from being induced into a catatonic state.

Raven, who was by the side of the unconscious Garfield, sensed that something was wrong and she flew up from her spot to see M'gann tearing into Damian's mind.

"M'GANN! NO!", she yelled and a second later, there was low, crackling sound as a silvery bronze portal opened up near the ceiling of the cargo building and through it,a black batarang shot forward, spinning towards M'gann and Damian. When the instrument was mere inches away from M'gann, it seemingly exploded, exposing the green , out of control martian to her one weakness, heat.

As a result, M'gann lost her focus and let go of her hold on Damian, crumpling to the floor in a heap as she threw her arms up, attempting to shield herself from the ring of fire around her.

Batman, Black Canary, Shazam, Cyborg, Flash and the Martian Manhunter emerged out of the boom tube, landing on the floor beneath them.

Roulette and a few of the remaining spectators, who were still watching the out of containment brawl, began to scatter in earnest , now that the Justice League had arrived.

"And that's our cue to exit, ladies and gentlemen. ", the woman stated and turned to leave , but found her way blocked by Superman, who had flown in from Metropolis on his own, after receiving the distress signal from the league.

There was a heap of unconscious henchmen lying behind him in his wake as he stood in her path, his arms crossed , a smile on his face as if he was daring her to make a move.

"Aww crap..", Roulette cursed in dismay, giving up. There was no way to outrun a Kryptonian.

Raven flew down to the justice leaguers with a slightly tense expression as Batman hurried over to the ring of fire surrounding M'gann, with Damian lying on the ground a few feet away, panting restlessly, clutching at his head with sweat glistening on his skin. He had a horrified expression on his face as he lay there, staring up at the ceiling.

"J'onn?", Batman stated, turning to the martian manhunter, who was tending to Garfield. He nodded and floated towards Batman, who extinguished the ring of fire around M'gann as her uncle approached them.

J'onn's already crimson eyes began to glow bright red as he lightly touched his right temple, focusing his telepathic energy on M'gann, who was gasping and panting weakly on the floor. Within seconds, she suddenly froze all movement with a jolt before her eyes rolled backwards and she crumpled to the ground , unmoving.

Kara, who was outside, flew in, dragging the unconscious King shark with her and a surprised expression flitted across her face as she saw the justice leaguers standing there, her cousin among them. Roulette was standing next to Superman, her hands cuffed with a contemptuous expression on her face. Then Kara's face changed and became more tense as she caught sight of M'gann lying on the floor motionless, with Damian lying huddled a few feet away.

"What happened?", she croaked out, confused.

* * *

 _TITAN'S TOWER, 00:20 EDT_

Kara, Raven and Damian were standing in front of the giant telescreen , back in the meeting room of the tower. All three of them seemed tired from the entire fiasco but Damian looked the weakest. His skin still looked pale and he only looked better than he was because the manhunter had repaired his mental state which had been partially damaged from M'gann's interfering. According to J'onn , M'gann had been seconds away from completely tearing up Damian's conscious mind . If the league had been any more late than they were, the effects would've been irreversible.

Bruce, Barry, Clark and J'onn looked down at the three teenagers from the large telescreen with the leaguers now back in their headquarters.

"We were able to decode and identify a sole chemical bio agent in the blood sample and isolated it to find that Roulette had been subjecting the metahumans she'd captured to a mild dosage of an agressor chemical compound which used the same core bio-agent as the mind-controlling chemical component that you uncovered on your mission aboard the Ivoria vessel. So we've come to the conclusion that Roulette is somehow involved with the Hive and we will get to the bottom of this. Once we realized what was controlling the metas, J'onn was able to tap into the subconscious of the affected to release them of the control . ", Bruce remarked.

"We've investigated into the case and tracked down any known credentials to Roulette. Her name was Victoria Sinclair . Her family used to be members of the high level society of Starling city. Her father was found guilty of alleged corruption scheme and they were turned away, disgraced. She hadn't been seen for the past five years before resurfacing under a new name , Roulette. She has a penchant for calculating odds and gamblers so that they always favored her. ", Batman stated through the screen.

"Unfortunately, the city police department was unable to detain her because of orders from higher officials for her release. She obviously has powerful connections and the league will look into this matter. You three, however, could've gotten yourselves killed.", Batman stated. As he said this, Kara peeked out at Damian out of the corner of her eye and he had a much more distinct scowl on his face than usual.

"Results aside, we are _not_ happy with what you did today. You disobeyed direct orders resulting in almost catastrophic repercussions and if we hadn't been there when we were, we'd be having a different conversation right now. ", Bruce remarked and as he said this, eyes eyes were focused on his son, who was glaring at anything but at the screen.

"Hence, since you three have displayed an obvious lack of restraint for following simple orders, you will be not be joining the other titans on _any_ missions for the remainder of this month. ", he finished as a shocked look shot up Kara's face.

"Wha- Are you kidding me!? We just-", Kara had begun to argue but she instantly caught sight of the expression that her cousin was giving her, standing behind Bruce. Catching the drift, she instantly piped down .

"We'll continue this discussion later. Dismissed. ", Batman finished before the telescreen went black and cleared up to reveal the glass paned walls that looked out over the moonlit sea outside.

Once the transmission was over, Damian simply dug his hands into his jacket pockets and trudged out of the area, proceeding towards the door handle as Kara and Raven exchanged bewildered expressions.

"Damian... Are you.. alright?", Raven asked quietly while Kara chose to stay silent for the time being. He didn't answer immediately, instead standing in the doorway as the white door slid open. Then he looked over his shoulder.

"I don't trust her. The martian. She's a lot stronger than she says she is. And I don't like what I don't trust.", he stated in a raspy voice before he walked out, leaving the two girls in a confused silence.

* * *

 **Till next time!**


	17. Chapter 17 - Danger

**Hey guys! Sorry for the late super,super busy with college stuff this term . I promise I'll try to update sooner . Anyway, thanks for sticking around and following Kara's story! I hope you enjoy reading this chapter!  
**

 **Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Seventeen - Danger  
**

* * *

 _TITAN'S TOWER, MARCH 13, 11:30 EDT_

Scratching her head, Kara dragged herself to the common room after oversleeping. The first thing that caught her eye was the pizza box lying open on the table. She wasted no time in grabbing the remaining four slices and began wolfing it down to try and quell the violent rumbling in her stomach. It was only after she'd hogged down the slices that she realized that the tower was strangely empty . Besides Raven and Bart, there was no one to be seen.

"Did I miss something? Where _is_ everyone?" Kara asked as Raven handed her a mug of coffee.

"Jaime, Kyle and Gar got drafted in for some mission in the morning. M'gann's visiting the Martian Manhunter , I think. And Robbie boy said he's doing _intense_ some solo stuff..." Bart filled her in as she joined him and Raven at the table.

"Is he still on about M'gann?" Kara whispered to Raven, who nodded discreetly.

"He doesn't talk much about it but I can tell." she replied quietly.

"Ladies , am I ... missing something here?" Bart interjected, feeling a little left out. But the girls chose to just ignore his remark, much to his irritation.

"I swear if that little turd does something to M'gann.. " Kara huffed and slammed her fist into her hand.

"But seriously... What was she doing to him? She almost ripped his mind open." Raven replied beseechingly as she raised her cup to her lips.

"Hey I don't intrude on other people's personal business. " Kara remarked , earning a raised eyebrow from Raven . The girl of steel knew her teammate was about to bring up the topic of how she and Kyle had ventured into Raven's personal business uninvited. Wanting to save herself the trouble, Kara quickly hid herself behind her cup and began sipping on the hot liquid in a very noisy manner.

"SWEET! I just hit a million followers!" Bart exclaimed, a grin plastered on his face with his eyes glued to his phone.

* * *

 _WATCHTOWER , 12:00 EDT_

M'gann sat within J'onn's private quarters , nervously patting her lap as she glanced around the place. It looked exactly the way it did the last time she'd been in her . The neatly kept bed, the neatly arranged earth plants and the various video tapes of earthly entertainment programmes and music cds .

She hadn't been back here in so long . Well. It hadn't been _that_ long but it definitely felt longer. Life was so much simpler for her when all she had to worry about every day was when J'onn would return, what type of training module to use and when she could finally visit earth. Now looking back, she couldn't help suppressing her yearning for those days back.

Just then, the doors slid open and the familiar figure of her uncle walked in.

"Uncle J'onn!" M'gann exclaimed enthusiastically and flew towards him, hugging him.

"M'gann… How have things been as of late?" J'onn asked, smiling at his niece.

"It's—It's going good… I guess…" she mumbled , biting her lip tentatively .

"You… have something on your mind?" J'onn asked politely as he sat down next to her.

M'gann let out a sigh and looked down at the floor. One didn't need martian telepathy powers to feel the angst oozing off of her.

"I've been.. having trouble with my powers lately… I mean.. I..uh… Well.. you saw what I almost did to Robin.. I can't let that happen again." She said quietly .

"I've—been trying to control it myself for a while now, ever since Roulette. But.. nothing seems to work."

"Hmm. I see. " J'onn simply stated. "Have you talked to your friends about it?"

"Yes—I .. I mean no. I guess I'm too scared . They don't say it to my face but I don't need to read their minds to tell that they're keeping an eye on me..It's like they don't trust me. Worst of all is Robin.. I don't think he likes me very much… And after what I did to him— I don't blame him.." M'gann mumbled , fiddling with her fingers .

"I was… kinda hoping _you_ could help me with trying to control my powers." She remarked .

"Hmm…I shall help you . But M'gann, shutting your friends out is not the solution. I have found that a friend _is_ what we need to help us in our time of trouble… " J'onn stated, placing a hand on his niece's shoulder . M'gann knew he was only trying to make things better for her but it wasn't that simple.

"Let us begin." J'onn stated and both their eyes began to glow as they established a mental link .

* * *

 _ATLANTIC OCEAN , 13:20 EDT_

A dark aerodynamic underwater sub moved swiftly through the depths of the vast seas. It's cloaking device had been switched on and it prowled close to the sea bed, making sure it was clear of any tracking signals.

"There are six rendezvous points outside the city reef. Your mission is strictly low profile until you have acquired the asset and should you attract _any_ unwanted attention , you are to dispose of them and make sure no trace is left. Understood ?" Shiva spoke through the telescreen aboard the sub.

"Clear." Rose stated curtly as she stood facing the monitor.

"The asset you are to acquire is a dangerous Apokoliptic device left here after the Justice League's battle with Darksied. And it's weaponizable capabilities are untapped, as I am told. Whatever you do, _do not_ damage the asset. " Shiva stated . " It is currently being kept under heavy patrolling inside the royal observatory towards the east wing of the city. "

"And What about the Titans?" Rose inquired coldly.

"We will cross that bridge when we arrive there."

"Understood." Rose stated before hauling her helmet over her head and joining the other operatives, prepping to exit the sub .

"Drop zone approaching." One of the commanders at the front called out.

Fifty dark figures exited the rapid moving sub and took a moment to adjust themselves to the change in pressure. Then, they made their way towards the outer reefs of the underwater city, keeping low to the sea bed so as not to be spotted.

* * *

Clark swiveled his way around Perry , a stack of note files in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other . The Daily Planet editorial room was truly a sight to behold. There was not an inch of free space available and the floor was practically littered with stray notes of paper and photographs which had fallen out of case files the staff of the prestigious company were working on. The distinct scent of fresh ink and paper filled the room and most of the windows were kept open in the hopes of welcoming a non existent breeze .

"KENT! WHERE'S THAT REPORT ON THE GOTHAM FOOTBALL GAME !? " Perry White's voice boomed and a few of the editors working on their pieces jerked a little due to the sudden increase in noise.

"Working on it Mr. White! I'll have it on your table by the evening!" Clark called back , "And Lois is already looking into the Palmer Industries break in . I'll give you the first details once she comes through with it."

Perry White seemed satisfied with that answer as he stuck his cigar back into his mouth and stomped back into his office before popping a few stress pills into his mouth.

Clark let out an exasperated sigh and dropped his piling stack of report files onto his already overloaded desk. He barely had time to sit down when he heard someone ramming impatiently against the glass wall of his cubicle. Slightly irritated , Clark turned to find a familiar blonde teenager waving at him with a wide grin plastered on her face .

"Kara?" Clark remarked, evidently surprised as he let his cousin in .

"Nothing to do back at the tower. Thought I'd stop by . " she replied as she glanced around the place. "So… this is where the famous Clark Kent plys his trade.."

"What does that mean?" Clark chuckled as he raised his cup of coffee to his lips.

"Nothing." Kara smiled, "I've just never seen you at your workplace before. I was just wondering if you … you know.. wanted to hang out?"

"Well.. I'm kinda caught up in something right now…" Clark mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly .

"Aw come on! We never see each other anymore!" she exclaimed , clearly annoyed. "And running into each other on missions don't count."

"Fine…" Clark sighed as he turned back to his computer. "Let me just finalize some pending reports and I'll be just out. You can go ahead and wait downstairs in the lobby."

* * *

 _ATLANTIS , 13:30 EDT_

"Your technique is excellent , Brom... " Garth grinned as he conjured up a shield to block the oncoming attack. "But it's pretty damn predictable! Hah!"

The teenaged atlantean exclaimed in exhilaration as he leapt up and sent torrents at his opponent, Brom'shah, who backflipped out of the way just in time.

"I believe action speaks louder than mere sentences, Garth." Brom responded and sent a bio electric spiral at Garth who conjured up a shield to block the attack just in time.

It was obvious that Garth was one of the more talented students at the Royal Mystic Arts Academy in the underwater kingdom. And , he seemed to be a hit with some of the female populous watching the training session. With his electric blues, his long jet black hair and his athletic body , it would've come as a surprise if he hadn't been garnering as much female attention as he was.

"I can already tell that guy's one douchebag…" Kyle mumbled as he, Jaime and Garfield watched the ongoing training session .

"Woohoo!" Garfield howled , punching the air as Garth landed a solid blow on his opponent, knocking him off balance. Beastboy was clearly rooting for the guy.

"Why do _we_ have to get stuck with this assignment?" Kyle groaned. "While the Aquaman's busy getting some real action off with the rest of the Justice league while we're on security duty…"

"Dude.. Chill. " Jaime remarked . "You don't wanna be caught talking smack about the king of Atlantis while we're _in_ Atlantis."

Kyle let out a frustrated sigh. "You're right. Sorry.. Just some personal issues bugging me lately."

"If you need to talk, We're here , hermano." Jaime remarked , only to have Kyle wave off the offer.

"You three must be the titans." a female voice spoke up from behind the three of them , causing Garfield to squak in shock as they whipped around. Facing them was none other than the queen of Atlantis herself, Mera. While Aquaman was busy on a league mission, his wife looking after his kingdom in his stead.

"Yes ma'am. " Kyle stated and bowed curtly, the other two doing the same.

"I hope you are enjoying your visit ? Your friend seems to have taken quite the interest in the duelling session." Mera stated, smiling at Garfield, who grinned sheepishly through his oxygen mask.

"Come. " She said and turned and swam away with the three titans following her through.

* * *

"So how'd you like your first visit to the planet ?" Clark asked as he handed his cousin an ice-cream.

"Wuz alright. "Kara replied nonchalantly. "Though there was this red head photographer dude that kept staring at me like I was some animal or something..Didn't leave till I told him to buzz off."

Hearing this, Clark chuckled. "I see you've met Jimmy."

" [ _So how're things with Diana_?]" Kara remarked nonchalantly , leaving Clark to gawk at her . He couldn't believe she'd just spoke in Kryptonian to him. He hadn't done that with anyone lately and it felt vague to him.

"What? Did I say it wrong?" she asked, a little embarrassed .

"No. No. I—When did you start speaking Kryptonian?" he asked.

"[ _I've been visiting the fortress whenever I can. Trying to learn about my Kryptonian heritage from the Archives_.]" Kara stated in Kryptonian.

"[ _Well.. You're much better off at the language than I was when I started off._ ]" Clark replied , enjoying the fact that he was finally speaking the language of his homeworld with someone that wasn't a pre-programmed android.

As Kara opened her mouth to reply, the distinct sound of police sirens filled the air and the two of them turned to see a black van wheeling off at a speed that was well over the prescribed speed limit, with masked men leaning out of the windows , shooting at the five police cars pursuing it.

As the cars screeched around the block and vanished from view, Kara turned to Clark with a smirk on her face.

* * *

 _POSIEDONIS ROYAL OBSERVATORY , 13:30 EDT_

"It is intriguing to say the least." The head scientist at the observatory remarked as he led the way with Mera and the three titans following in his wake.

Garfield was busy staring around the place with an amazed expression , wondering as to how the Atlantean technology worked considering water and electricity combined had more destructive than productive capabilities. The observatory looked more or less like any other laboratory one would find on land, and yet most of the technology being used looked vastly different from land tech.

"The object—we wager after the battle of the Justice League—has been normally unresponsive but it has been emitting blasts of contained radioactive energy as of late. Now this might sound unusual but…we have … even detected brainwaves from the object." The scientist, an atlantean man with a thick, beefy moustache , a non existent neck and a protruding belly , remarked.

"So it's alive?" Garfield asked as the scientist nodded.

He seemed to be leading the group away from the main hall down a cramped tunnel that seemed endless until they finally came face to face with what seemed to be a translucent door . The scientist typed some code into the computer system that locked the door secure . As the door opened, a trail of smoke puffed out, revealing a large cylindrical glass containment unit within which hovered what looked like a silvery metallic orb, the size of a soccer ball, with trace purple light glowing through the metal, pulsing rhythmically .The metal did not look refined or polished in any way-in fact, it looked crude and groveled .

The titans stared at the object in a mixture of confusion and interest. The object , even though harmless in appearance, did have the unique ability of perking the interest of onlookers without much effort.

"We do not , as of yet, have sufficient information as to classify this object as inanimate or not but needless to say, my Queen—the study of this specimen has become of the highest priority and should shoot us forward ahead of our surface dwelling counterparts." The man stated arrogantly.

Behind Mera, Kyle, Jaime and Garfield exchanged perturbed glances with each other. Why would the man speak so openly about an arms race in front of them?

"I respect your goals B'arzz, but that is not our aim. We are only to study the specimen and keep it under safe custody as requested by our king." Mera stated.

"Of course, your majesty." B'arzz stated rather unenthusiastically , shooting the three titans a scornful glare before leading the group back out and locking the chamber secure once again. Just then, one of the many security guards posted throughout the observatory swam towards them, bowing to Mera.

"All security protocols are in place, my Queen. No unauthorized person will get in or out." The masked guard stated .

"Excellent." Mera nodded, turning her attention back to the cylindrical containment unit.

/

The sound of whirring sirens and wheels screeching against the pavement echoed through the city as the chase continued. One of the masked thugs in the speeding car rained down bullets while the other pulled out a larger cylindrical weapon and hauled it over his shoulder, aiming for the police car in the lead.

"Is that a… frickin _Bazooka!?_ " the officer in the car yelled and hurriedly tried to spin the car out of the way but it was a little too late , the bazooka fired and as the thugs watched, it exploded right in front of the helpless police cars.

The they cackled at first ,hooting but soon as the smoke cleared, their expressions of glee turned to one of shock and fear as they caught sight of the smoke trailing off the body of Superman.

"Jesus Christ! MOVE!" one of the thugs yelled at the driver and he immediately obeyed, shifting gears and attempting to make a quick getaway. But the car barely moved ten feet before the front crashed into something solid and unmoving.

"What the—" the driver grunted as he caught sight of a blonde teenager standing in front of the car, with it's metal front damaged and bent beyond repair.

"What's the hurry boys?" Kara asked , cracking her knuckles with a smirk .

"Another one!?" the thugs yelped and got out of the car, aiming their guns at Supergirl and Superman.

Kara couldn't stop herself from giggling out at the feeble attempts of the thugs to harm her. In a fit of rage, one of them stomped forward and swung his fist at her ribs, only for the poor fellow to have the bones in his arm crack .

"ARGH!" he yelped in pain as Kara grabbed him by his collar and pulled him upwards, his feet dangling inches above the pavement.

"See, the bullets don't work and neither did the bazooka…So um.. why the punching?" she asked nonchalantly as Clark walked upto her, already having taken care of the thugs who tried their hand of taking him on.

"Seven years and still people don't grab the concept of the symbol…" he sighed .

/

"I can't get through!" one of the firemen yelled back to his team as he was forced back out of the burning building , coughing violently . The sky was orange and black plumes of smoke rose out of the building, a dark beacon against the sky.

"HELP! PLEASE!" a woman screamed and the crowd gathered below looked up to see a woman and her young son huddled together near their window sill, nowhere to escape to .

"I just hope somebody shows up.." the captain of the brigade mumbled as he held out an oxygen supplier to his subordinates who had just come back out the building.

Just then, they heard the sound of something fast moving towards their direction and they all looked up to find Superman flying towards the burning building. But that was not all, there also seemed to be a blonde girl flying beside him, both of them heading straight towards the building.

"You wanna do the honors?" Clark asked Kara with a half-smile .

Kara gave him a toothy grin and sped towards the building and began flying in circles around it in a speeding blur of blue. As she did so, Clark headed towards the woman and the child and hauled them out of the window and safely took them down to the ground. Meanwhile, due to the speed at which Kara was flying , she had created a wind tunnel around the building which began to form a vacuum around it, extinguishing the flames automatically. She then flew down towards Clark as the crowd began to clap .

* * *

Damian was seated at the batcave, his eyes fixed on the many monitors in front of him. He had hacked into the Titan's database systems and was attempting to extrapolate any and all known information on their newest teammate.

M'gann M'orzz.

What was she hiding? She said she wasn't too skilled nor powerful as her uncle was and yet, he had felt her power. How it had almost ripped his conscious mind apart. He may not be a telepath but he knew that a rookie wouldn't have _that_ much control over their powers.

What _was_ she hiding ?

* * *

 _HALL OF JUSTICE , 14:00 EDT_

Steve Trevor stood in front of the giant tele-monitors as he ran cross scans on the league's entire databse, trying to find any known leads for a league mission.

"That's odd.." he stated, evidently perplexed.

"I know right?! Kid flash has more followers online than I do!" Shazam exclaimed in an annoyed tone.

" The security footage doesn't show any discrepencies but the league data port says that one containment unit isn't accounted for." Steve continued, ignoring the teenager.

He accessed the league containment unit monitor chips and instantly caught sight a singular red dot blinking , moving at a fast pace , putting distance between itself and the Hall of Justice.

"That.. does not look good.." he mumbled and he noticed the cell number of the containment unit that had been breached as he reached for the alarms. He had to alert the nearest leaguer as fast as possible. With Barry and most of the others out of coverage area on a league mission, there was only one option left and luckily, he seemed to be quite nearby.

* * *

Rose and the henchmen had gotten through the first level of Atlanean security undetected for the most part and had launched a successful stealth attack on the unsuspecting guards, who had all but been defeated. One of the henchmen was about to drive their blade in through one of the Atlantean guards when Rose stopped them.

"No. The scent of the blood in the water could alert the Atlanteans . We don't want to draw attention to ourselves. Not yet." She stated .

"Understood. " the henchman nodded before striking the atlantean guard in his grasp to the ground with a blow on the head.

Rose swam forward and looked around. No alarms ringing. No royal guards on the prowl. They hadn't been detected yet. She raised her fingers to her helmet and tapped the comlink online.

"All squads report." She stated.

" _Beta squad in position."_

 _"Gamma squad in position."_

 _"Omega squad in position."_

"Acknowledged. Alpha Squad in position." Rose replied before turning back to the four masked men with her. "Phase one complete. Initiate phase two."

One of the men behind Rose swam forward, pulling out a black, triangular device from his utility pouch and placed it onto the wall of a nearby pillar where it stood attached, looking quite harmless, except for the rhythmic pulse of red light emanating from it.

"Decoy detonators in place and ready. Phase two complete." The man remarked into his comlink as Rose quietly eyed the two Atlantean guards swimming passively twenty feet above them, patrolling the sector.

"All squads stay in position and _do not_ engage until we have received the signal. " Rose stated into the comlink.

* * *

M'gann let go of the mental link and the glow in her eyes dimmed out . Her chest was rising and falling rapidly and she evidently seemed exhausted. Her uncle on the other hand, did not seem the least bit affected, except for the fact that he seemed concerned about his niece .

"I-I'm sorry , Uncle J'onn. I just .. can't ..Maybe I'm doing it wrong?" M'gann panted .

"The only thing stopping you is the mental block that you have yourself put in your mind ." J'onn stated curtly. "M'gann. Everybody makes mistakes. You made an error on your part but what we must do is to learn from them and move on."

 _'It's not that simple'_ , M'gann thought to herself. She'd always had to restrict her powers and she wished she could truly be open with J'onn.

"Perhaps a little Earth Music will help . " J'onn stated with a smile . "I've observed that it helps me calm my thoughts and lets me focus many a times."

"Uncle J'onn?" M'gann said quietly, feeling a little shy. "M-maybe we could… just.. spend the day together. Maybe it' could help."

J'onn seemed a little surprised as to what M'gann requested but smiled anyway at his niece.

* * *

Kara and Clark were now flying passively through the skies, the wind whipping at their hair, smiles plastered on their faces. Kara hadn't felt this much happiness in a long while. It felt strange. With all the chaos happening around them with the mystery enemy and everything else, they were able to find happiness in the simple act of helping people who needed it. The titans were her friends and she loved spending time with them but hanging out with her cousin was something else. He could understand her like nobody else could.

"That was so COOL!" Kara exclaimed in exhilaration , "We're like a super elite super team .We should do this more often!"

"Best hangout ever?" Clark asked with a grin, holding out his hand to her.

"Best hangout ever!" Kara answered enthusiastically , high-fiving him hard .

"You might wanna tone down on that energy, girl of steel." Clark chuckled as he rubbed his hand .

"Oh! So sorry I didn't—" Kara fumbled before they were interrupted by Clark's league comlink beeping .

"Superman here." Clark remarked, touching his ear. "No I'm definitely available."

As Kara watched, she saw his goofy grin turn a bit more serious .

" Acknowledged. Send me the coordinates of the tracker and I'll handle it." Clark remarked.

"Duty calls.." he sighed as he turned to Kara, who had a cross expression on her face.

"Uh-uh. No way. You promised the whole day. Whatever it is, I can help." She stated stubbornly.

"Fine. You can come along. But follow my lead." Clark sighed , defeated and together, the two of them shot forwards .

* * *

The patrolling guards were busy gossiping that they failed to take notice of the silhouettes of the five dark shadows lurking beneath the royal observatory structure.

"Gamma squad ready." The commander of the squad remarked .

" _Initiate phase three."_ Rose's voice replied through their comlink and he signaled to his subordinates .

/

"What does that science guy have against 'land-dwellers' ? " Kyle remarked as they circled the outer perimeters of the city for the fourth time.

"Well. You didn't read any of the casefiles did you?. " Jaime remarked . Kyle shook his head with a shrug.

"Apparently even after Prince Orm had been ousted to being a traitor against the kingdom, he still had his share of loyalists. Maybe mister science guy was one of em." Garfield joined in as he swam alongside the other two, morphed into a seal.

"Hng.. Guy's an asshole in my boo—" Kyle was saying before he was cut off by a sudden explosion that literally shook the city from it's seabed.

The waters were lit up in fiery amber as plumes of grey and black rose up in torrents . No sooner had they located where the explosion took place, similar simultaneous explosions happened all around the city confusing everyone as to what was happening. Large pillars , Buildings and constructs broke off and began crumbling to the seabed and several Atlanteans were injured in the ensuing chaos and panic.

Kyle, Garfield and Jaime were shaken like everybody eardrums still throbbing from the sudden explosion of noise, all they could make out was the terror and the chaos that had engulfed the city that had looked peaceful just moments ago.

"Holy mother of megazon..." Garfield gasped at what they were staring at. Majority of the city was now in chaos and fires had erupted in many random locations.

/

Clark and Kara reached the coordinates sent by Cybrog and sure enough, as they flew towards the Metropolis Bay Bridge, they saw what looked like a ten foot tall silvery humanoid wrecking havoc on the bridge. Some helpless civilians were stuck inside their vehicles while others were scattering, bolting away from the metal humanoid that seemed set on destroying the area. The creature was ripping the roofs of cars and hurling them off the bridge like they were nothing.

Kara squinted her eyes as they rocketed towards the bridge. As she caught sight of the creature, her eyes widened in shock.

"Is that— ? " she mumbled as Clark nodded.

" Trevor said Shazam tried to stop him but his electricity only helped amplify the android's power. Come on."

The two of them flew down and managed to grab a few of the cars being thrown off the bridge. Clark flew under the bridge and held it up while he used his heat vision to try and weld the broken iron pillars holding the bridge up, trying to stabilize it.

/

The patrolling guards who were lucky enough not to be squashed by the falling rubble were working together in squads to try and lift the heaps of pillars that had crashed down , trapping their compatriots and other civilians underneath. The Atlantean men were strong no doubt, but they clearly were struggling with the weight and were barely managing to hold up the rubble.

Then, a large, emerald hand appeared, the size of an entire building and seemingly lifted majority of the rubble away with ease. Surprised , the men turned around to see the three teenagers swimming towards them, with the emerald construct projected out of the green lantern's ring.

"Careful! Get the people out!" Kyle yelled as the titans drew nearer.

"Gratitude." One of the guards bowed curtly to them and helped guide some of the trapped civilians out from underneath the rubble.

Garfield morphed into a large shark and assisted in moving the rubble . Then, from out of nowhere, Kyle was hit with a plasma blast and he grunted in pain, as he was knocked backwards with smoke trailing off where he had been hit. Similar blasts struck at the Atlantean guards while Garfield hurriedly put himself in between the falling debris and the civilians (since Kyle's construct was no longer holding it up.

Jaime switched on his scanner and located at least seven men in black diving suits aiming plasma shooters and bazookas at where they stood. He raised his arm, morphing his armor into a sonic cannon and shot at them, blasting the group off with a sonic explosion.

Kyle , who was now back on his feet, rocketed towards the henchmen with a sword construct. He kicked out at two of the men before slashing at the thighs of the others.

"Omega squad, requesting assis—" one of the henchmen remarked hurriedly into his comlink but was cut off mid sentence as Jaime blasted him backwards and through a nearby wall.

"Where did these guys come from anyway?!" Jaime exclaimed .

As they watched, at least twenty henchmen converged on them, menacing looking drills in their hands and moving towards them from above at a rapid rate.

Mera emerged from the palace nearby, followed by a number of royal guards armed with their own bioelectric blasters.

"And I thought this would be a boring day." Kyle muttered as he joined Jaime and Garfield upfront.

/

Metallo roared and raised his large fists to smash a car in violently when he was hit in the back with a beam of heat vision, blasting him off his feet. Grunting, the android got back up and turned around to face his new attacker and an altogether new emotion filled his being :Rage.

"Did I get your attention now, jackass?" Kara snorted, hovering a few feet above the ground.

While she sounded brave, she had to admit , the guy looked a _lot_ more intimidating compared to the last time they'd encountered him. For one, he'd gained several inches in height and overall size and two, he seemed to have been induced to a lot more Kryptonite . There were lines of glowing green flowing throughout his body, like veins, connected to the large block of green embedded deep within his chest.

"Metallo." Clark's voice remarked and they turned to see Superman hovering down toward them, having already finished fixing the bridge. "We don't have to fight if you would just return to you containment unit. We can sort this out."

" _Kryptonians._." a synthesized, mechanical voice droned out from the android.

Clark opened his mouth to speak but before he could do so, he was struck by a powerful blast of green light that shot out of Metallo's heart. Kara turned to see her cousin flying backwards, crashing into a nearby tanker vehicle , couching and clutching his chest as a greenish glow flowed through his veins.

"You sonova—" Kara cussed and swung her fist around, only to have Metallo catch it mid swing before yanking her off her feet and sending her crashing a few feet away into the concrete .

While Clark was still recovering from the blast of kryptonite, Kara flew towards Metallo , shooting heat vision at him , only to have him block it using his palm.

" _Puny Kryptonian_!" Metallo roared and charged forward, grabbing Kara by the throat before slamming her repeatedly into the ground beneath them, cracking the cement open before kicking her hard on the ribs, sending her sliding backwards into the nearby bridge railing that broke open on impact.

As Kara staggered to her feet, she felt the android's palm clasp around her throat and pull her close to him before he blasted her with a full face of green Kryptonite energy.

"AARRGH!" Kara screamed as the pain surged through her.

She felt her whole body starting to ache as the kryptonite flowed through her, poisoning her bloodstream. She'd never been exposed to so much of it before and it seemingly overwhelmed her. Her hearing began to dull out and her vision grew blurry . She was growing so faint that she even failed to register the pain that shot through her body as Metallo dropped her on her knees.

" _I thought I'd be getting more of a fight .._ " the android droned , his eyes glowing emerald as the Kryptonite flowed through him.

Through her ragged coughing, she caught sight of a giant metal arm rising, ready to deliver the final blow that would knock her down. But then, out of nowhere, like a speeding bullet, a blur of blue came to her rescue and seemingly knocked Metallo off his feet, sending him flying off over the bridge, shattering the railing and far off into the dark waters , disappearing into the depths.

Clark looked down at the body of his cousin , jerking uncontrollably as the kryptonite radiation flowed through her. The two of them were now lit up under the searchlight of police helicopters that had arrived at the scene—late as usual. Feeling helpless as he watched her suffer, Clark picked her up in his arms and rose up skyward, vanishing from the view of the shocked civilians.

/

"ASSUME FORMATION!" Mera roared as the Atlantean guards obeyed, forming a wide zig-zag pattern around the palace as they began to fire at the advancing henchmen .

Mera's eyes began to glow pure white as she conjured up a large slabs of ice around her men to protect them whilst simultaneously hurling bullets of ice at the attackers, impaling some of them in the head . She then formed a ball of electric blue energy in between palms before hurling it at the attackers. On impact, the energy ball seemingly exploded, blasting the victims and vaporizing some of them who were unfortunate to be too close to it.

While Mera was busy attacking , she left her rear area unguarded and did not notice one of the attackers aiming a bazooka straight at her. The man shot the bazooka at her but as it was moments away from hitting it's target, an emerald circular vacuum materialized around it and sucked it in before sending it back out towards the henchmen, who was too slow to move .

Mera whipped around at the sound of an explosion behind her, ready to attack, only to find the green lantern and the beastboy swimming towards her while the blue beetle moved forward towards the front of the Atlantean defence, unleashing his weaponry on the attacking henchmen.

"Gratitude. " the queen stated as Kyle and Garfield nodded curtly. Garfield proceeded to morph into a giant electric eel before racing towards some of the henchmen, wrapping himself around their bodies and electrocuting them.

Just then, through one of the one of the aqua-communicators used by the Atlantean guards, came the sound of a male who sounded like he , along with a bunch of others, seemed to be under attack.

" _Sector four reporting in! Taking fire! A group of ten are attacking the Observatory! Ngh—requesting backup!"_

"Of course!" Mera cursed. "The attack was precision planned. It was not focused on the Palace. It's all been a ngh—diversion!"

"Surface communications are all down. We can't contact the king or the Justice League. Your Highness—What are your orders?" one of the commanders asked as he continued blasting at the advancing henchmen.

"With Arthur away—ngh—I must protect our people and the palace." Mera stated as she formed a glowing blue stingray construct that began attacking a handful of the henchmen, along with Kyle's emerald sea serpent.

"Lantern!" she called, turning to the teenager. "Take a few of my men and proceed to the Observatory at once. It is clear that whoever the attacker is, is aiming for the Apokolyptic weapon. We cannot let it fall into enemy possession!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Kyle nodded and proceeded to swim in the direction of the observatory.

"Gar!" he called out and the beastboy joined him and the other men as they raced towards the observatory that was under attack.

/

Kara lay on the couch in the common room in Titan's tower. Bart and Clark stood over her, watching with concern as Raven sat by her side, her eyes glowing pure white as she attempted to isolate the fragments of Kryptonite poisoning Kara's bloodstream.

"You both got hit by Metallo's kryptonite radiation right?" Bart asked as Clark nodded, not taking his eyes off the unmoving figure of his cousin.

"So then how come she got affected _this_ bad while you're not?"

"I…. don't know.." Clark muttered, at a loss.

"Got it." Raven remarked as she began to wave her arms around Kara's unmoving body and then slowly began to move her hands towards her mouth. As she did so, a glowing flow of green moved from various points along Kara's body and in a violent gush, flowed out of her mouth , forming a glowing orb of green that hovered under Raven's control.

As soon as the kryptonite was out of her system, Kara's eyes shot open and she gasped for air before rolling off the couch, coughing violently .

Clark and Bart moved to her side and helped her up back onto her feet.

"W-what the hell happened?" she gasped, feeling rather clammy and disoriented.

"You got hit in the face with a full blast of Kryptonite energy. You were on TV and stuff." Bart remarked.

"Your body seemed unable to rejecting the Kryptonian chemistry like Superman. It affected you more." Raven remarked monotonously as she dispersed the Kryptonite orb into thin air. "I'm guessing it's because of your biology."

"My—biology?" Kara stuttered as Clark handed her a glass of water.

"We're still not sure." Bart remarked.

"It's my fault." Clark remarked quietly. "I shouldn't have let you come with me on a league assignment. And facing an enemy who's sole power is based on was I thinking?"

"No. No way. I'm not gonna let you keep blaming yourself. " Kara retorted stubbornly. "I made you let me come along. This is on me."

"Well. You both are gonna have to sort out your family issues quick." Raven remarked.

Both Clark and Kara turned to face the teenager and the noticed that she wasn't looking at either of them anymore. Her eyes were fixed on the Telescreen that was running and the news channel was on.

" _We have live footage from the scene. It appears to be some sort of robot android and it appears to be heading towards Krypton Park in Metropolis. "_ Iris West Allen stated . " _Now unfortunately, the vicinity is too dangerous for any on location correspondant but we have reports coming in that military aircrafts are being dispatched to try and stop the android but so far, all attempts seem to be useless against it."_

The titans watched as raw footage (clearly recorded from someone's smartphone) was played on the screen. Metallo was tearing up the city block, ripping up the concrete slab modeled to look like the superman symbol before hurling it at a nearby military helicopter, sending it crashing into a nearby civilian office building. He then stomped his foot on the ground, roaring and an explosion of green light burst out from his body , destroying the area before the footage went offline.

"I have to stop this." Clark remarked solemnly before striding towards the door.

"You can't do it alone. If he did that to me while he was fighting the both of us, Imagine what he'd do to you if you're alone!" Kara retorted stubbornly, flying after him and blocking his path.

Clark glared at her and clenched his fists.

"No. You're not coming with me and that's the end of it. I'm not going to risk letting that maniac hurt you again."

And before Kara could argue any further, the man of steel was gone.

/

Kyle, Garfield and the unit of Atlantean guards entered the observatory to find themselves seemingly in the crossfire of an all out battle . One of the guards got hit by a stray plasma blast before Kyle put up a shield around the group. Only afterwards did they have time to make any sense of what was happening.

Jets of light were zipping across the hall in all directions and the sound of explosion filled the waters.

"There!" One of the Atlantean guards yelled .

Following his gaze , the others caught sight of a small battalion of Atlantean guards, along with Garth, being pressed back and forced to take cover as a barrage of plasma blasts and surface weaponry rained down on them. Garth seemed to be doing his best to protect himself and the other men whilst simultaneously trying to attack but it was clear that the Atlantean was getting overwhelmed and they were outnumbered by the henchmen.

"Not too arrogant now, Is he?" Kyle chuckled before he flew on ahead and created a large hammer construct, bringing it down on where the henchmen were and disrupting their attack.

The vibrations of the hammer echoed through the entire building and Rose, who was in the restricted section of the observatory, along with one other henchmen (who was running a simulation to try and hack the computer system that kept the Apokolyptic weapon secure) felt the disturbance.

"Is it finished?" Rose asked impatiently , prepping her blaster ready.

"Almost." The henchman replied .

Back in the main hall, the concentration of firing was now split between Garth , Kyle, Gafield and the other men. Kyle was putting up a protective shield around them as Garth fired ice bullets and conjured up variants of bioelectric attacks to aid them. Garfield had transformed into a large sea water crocodile that chomped it's jaws down on any of the henchmen who got too close to the protective shield in an attempt to attack Kyle.

Garth noticed four of the henchmen standing beneath one of the large pillars and aimed a bioelectric blast at the structure, destabilizing it and sending it crumbling on top of the men, who were too late to move out of the way.

Garfield noticed that while majority of the men were attacking them, a group of four broke off from the rest and swam towards a tunnel, disappearing behind it.

"Uhh.. guys? " he called and pointed at the men disappearing into the tunnel.

"GO! We can hold down these men!" the commander of the Atlantean guards yelled as he fired his blaster at the henchmen. Kyle nodded and turned to Garfield.

"Stay here and help out these guys. I'm going after the others."

Garfield nodded and Kyle turned to leave when he felt someone grab him by the shoulder.

"Lantern!" Garth remarked. "I'm coming with you. The queen assigned me to protect the weapon at all costs."

Kyle didn't like the fellow much but had no choice. He had a feeling he'd need someone to watch his back. Together, the two of them moved through the crossfire and disappeared down the tunnel as Garfield and the other men were no left unprotected by Kyle's shield and had to take cover from the plasma fire behind the walls and debris.

/

Metallo ripped up an entire car in half and heard the faint sound of someone whimpering, coming from the left. He slowly turned his thick metallic neck towards the sound and slowly moved in the direction. Five steps. No more. He finally stopped in front of a large school bus that seemed vacant and ran a scan on it. Instantly, he picked up on the heat signatures of a woman and her child huddled under one of the seats, nowhere to run to.

He raised his fist and ripped open the metal and the screams of the child and the mother filled the air. It took mere seconds before he was face to face with them and the mother seemed to be crying, pleading with the metal android to spare them. His eyes landed on the shirt the child was wearing. A black one with the symbol of the Kryptonian on it.

Then, he noticed that the child didn't seem concerned nor scared even. More than that, it wasn't even looking at him. Following the boy's gaze, Metallo turned to find the man of steel hovering down towards them, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You really should have surrendered when you had the chance, Metallo." Clark proclaimed as he grabbed the android's attention.

" _You think—I'm the one in danger here, Kryptonian_? " the android stated mockingly. " _I seem to remember beating both you and your sidekick with relative ease._ "

"You don't leave a guy a lot of options , do you?" Clark remarked as his eyes began to glow red .

" _Your kind draws demons from above . All I'm doing is eliminating any chance of anyone else suffering the same fate as mine._ " The android remarked before lurching at Clark, catching him around the midriff and slamming him to the pavement .

" _Your kind is a threat to the humans. They're just too foolish to see it_." Metallo hissed as he began punching Clark in the face.

Clark roared in anger and struck out at Metallo with an intense crimson beam before kicking out at the android, sending him flying backwards into a nearby vacant truck . Clark sped towards him and began punching him in rapid motion.

/

" _We now have live footage of what appears to be Superman and the android locked in combat . The military are advising civilians to not get too close to the brawl zone and to evacuate the local area close to Krypton park. "_ Iris reported.

Kara, Bart and Raven watched the monitor as footage of Clark and Metallo was shown and even though Clark seemed to be striking the android down, it was pretty evident that the man of steel was tiring out as a result of resisting the Kryptonite that powered the android.

"This doesn't really look good , does it?" Bart asked, looking concerned.

"You think?" Raven remarked sarcastically. Kara however, was too fixated on the footage to respond.

"Goddamn it! " she cursed, throwing her hands up in frustration, "Even if I go out there to help him, I can't beat Metallo with that piece of Kryptonite sticking out of his damn chest!"

Bart and Raven exchanged silent glances with each other.

"I think it's time to put your little project to test." Raven mumbled , her eyes fixed on Bart.

"W-what project?" Kara remarked, cocking an eyebrow.

As an answer , Bart grinned toothily, rubbing the back of his neck as if he was a little embarrassed .

"Uno momento!" he exclaimed and zipped out of the room before returning in the blink of an eye, holding what appeared to be a black, metal ring with three glowing slits of green in them. Kara instantly recognized them to be one of the inhibitor collars from their run in with Roulette .

"I'm still not getting it. How does this help?" She mumbled vaguely , glancing at the device .

"That's the inhibitor collar that was on M'gann's neck after she and Gar were taken by Roulette. " Raven explained.

"How did you guys get it?" Kara inquired, a little perturbed.

"That's not the point , babe." Bart waved her off impatiently.

"Your little fight with mister Terminator was all on TV and I couldn't help noticing how baldy you were getting your ass handed to you ." he remarked, chuckling.

"Gee.. Thanks for noticing." Kara huffed.

"The point is—" Raven interjected, punching Bart on the shoulder to stop him from laughing.

"Right—right." He nodded , "When we were watching, Raven said something about you and supey having something to cancel out the Kryptonite factor so that you'd have a fair fight with Arnold Schwarzie over here."

"And…. What's any of that got to do with you holding an inhibitor collar to my face?"

"I didn't know Kryptonians were this hard-headed, did you?" the fast-talking speedster mumbled to Raven before turning back to Kara. "I tried retro-fitting the collar for it to work as a shield against trace Kryptonite . Would've taken you slowpokes days to do it."

Kara stared at the object with her interest perked up now.

"But—the only problem is, it's not a permanent solution. How it works is that it absorbs the Kryptonite radiation on itself, protecting you from it, but the longer it absorbs, the more it begins to display the properties of the radiation it absorbs." Bart remarked .

"So… it's like a temporary fix up?" Kara remarked, taking the collar from Bart and eyeing it scrutinisingly .

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Bart remarked.

"Does it work?" Kara asked, turning to the other two.

"No idea." Bart shrugged . "Haven't tested it .And do go getting it destroyed. I don't have a spare lying around."

"There's only one way to find out if it works or not." Kara muttered and locked the collar around her neck.

/

"Security parameters have been breached." The henchman stated as the translucent door slid open.

"Excellent. " Rose stated, swimming into the vault to find the silvery grey orb hovering passively within it's containment unit. "Begin phase four."

Rose placed the device to hack into the security system of the containment unit when there was an explosion of emerald light behind her and two of the henchmen standing guard outside were blasted into the vault, knocked out.

"That might be a problem." Kyle stated as he and Garth moved into the room.

"Who the hell are you working for?" Garth roared, forming spiked maces into his palms using his Atlantean sorcery.

"Dude. You don't just ask the bad guy that—it's too clichéd ." Kyle remarked. While the two of them were bickering with themselves, Rose discreetly switched on her comlink, connecting her to the main base sub system.

" _Extraction is out of the equation now. You cannot take on a green lantern one on one. Destroy the asset. If we cannot procure it, neither can the Justice league. The device will be switched to destruct mode. You have ten minutes."_ Shiva's voice came through .

"Impressive, Isn't it? " Rose remarked, nodding towards the orb , trying to distract the other two.

"What's impressive is how fast I'm gonna kick your can!" Garth roared and lurched towards the assassin, swinging his mace around.

Rose evaded the Atlantean's attack before placing a quick-deploy grenade on Garth's back that detonated, sending him crashing into a nearby wall .

Rose then began firing her plasma blasters at Kyle, who constructed a makeshift shield and curled up behind it to avoid the blaster's rays. As he was too focused on Ravager , he failed to notice the other henchmen in the room and as a result, ended up getting hit by a barrage of their plasma blasts that injured him .

Garth, who had been recovering from the grenade, caught sight of the attack on the green lantern and transformed his mace into a long whip that he shot out at the men, wrapping it around their bodies before hurling them at Ravager, who narrowly managed to avoid them.

"Thanks." Kyle muttered as Garth held a hand out to the teen titan. Maybe the Atlantean wasn't as bad as he'd initially thought .

Garth then turned to Rose and the other henchmen and furrowed his brows in determination.

"I summon the power of the TEMPEST!" he roared as he began to form a concentrated ball of hurricane-like bioelectric energy within his palms and shot it at the attackers. Rose managed to use her jet-pack to move out of the way just in time as the attack struck the henchmen, vaporizing them .

" Have it your way, assholes." Rose hissed and pulled out the bazooka from one of the bodies of the henchmen and began firing it at the two of them, forcing them to hid behind Kyle's shield. .

Kyle and Garth lowered their shields and Kyle formed a large tank machine gun construct, ready to shoot down Ravager but the two of them stopped midway, when they caught sight of their opponent standing with her hands up above her head.

"Fine. I surrender." She stated coldly. "You can take me in—"

"Or you can stop the bomb that has been set to explode onto your precious artifact." She continued, nodding to the hacking device that now had a slow red blinker pulsing rhythmically on it. "I'm told it's yield is quite impressive."

"You're bluffing!" Garth roared, raising his mace.

"Stick around and you'll find out , Atlantean." Rose hissed, her eyes darting between the two.

Kyle weighed the options. On one hand, he could stop Ravager and that could help both the Titans and the league find a lead on who their mystery enemy was. But then , if he did, he was pretty sure that Ravager was not bluffing and that bomb may destroy half of Atlantis and he wouldn't be okay with that either.

Heaving a sigh, Kyle made his choice and evaporated his construct into nothingness.

"Bold choice, Lantern. You have three minutes to detonation." Ravager remarked before dropping a metal pellet on the ground that exploded, engulfing the area in dark smoke.

"NO!" Garth yelled and burst forward. But he was too late. Ravager was gone.

"How could you let her get away!?" he rounded on Kyle .

"If I hadn't she probably would've detonated the bomb right now, blowing us all to hell. " he retorted , trying to knock some sense into the hard-headed Atlantean.

Garth glared at him for a few strained moments before lowering his weapons and extinguish them. "So what do we do about the bomb then?"

"We can't try to rip it off. My ring detected motion sensors on the thing. It could trigger a premature explosion." Kyle remarked .

"So there's nothing we can do?" Garth remarked hoplessly.

"Well…" Kyle mumbled, furrowing his brows. "I could take the bomb and detonate it out of range of Atlantis or any forms of civilization but—"

"But what?"

"But I'd have to take the containment unit with it. The orb's gonna be destroyed either way. It can't be saved." Kyle answered solemnly.

Garth frowned at this information and bit his lip, staring fixedly at the orb device fixed onto the containment unit, it's blinking increasing in frequency now.

"Do it." The young Atlantean remarked, nodding.

"But what about the quee—"

"She values the lives of her people more than some alien artifact."

Kyle nodded and pointed his fist at the containment unit as a giant green fist began to materialize and enclose around it.

/

As Jaime continued fighting with the others outside with the other Atlanteans, his scarab gave him a premature warning and he felt the water around them begin to rumble and shake violently. He wasn't the only one . Droves of the henchmen and the Atlantean soldiers combined had noticed the geographical disturbance and turned just in time to see the ground beneath them crack open in rifts .

"What in the name of Poseidon is happening?" one of the soldiers gasped, clutching his blaster more dearly .

"There!" Jaime pointed as he noticed something emerald moving upwards, away from the city , from the sector where the royal observatory had been located.

"What's he doing with the Apokolyptic thing?" Jaime blurted out as his scarab informed him .

"My queen!"

Mera turned to see Garth swimming towards them , his eyes fixed on the figure of the Green Lantern as he shot upwards .

/

Kyle breached the water surface and shot skywards , taking the bomb and the Apokolyptic weapon with him . Soon he was high enough to see the sea of clouds beneath him. Now the earth was all but a curved ball of blue and green as the dark vastness of space engulfed around him as he entered the earth's troposphere.

/

Mera, Jaime, Garfield, Garth and a few of the other Atlantean soldiers watched from the water surface as the dark skies lit up in a blizzard of white and orange light. The nuke had gone off.

"Dios mio…." Jaime gasped along with everyone else. The show of light must have decked the skies for what seemed like hours before Garfield's comlink crackled and Kyle's voice came through.

" _It's—over."_

The group heaved a collective sigh as Jaime and Garfield exchanged relieved glances with each other. More than the bomb being set off at a safe distance, they were relieved that their friend was alright.

/

"Requesting backup! Need assistance now!" Steve Trevor yelled into his comlink as he and a small squad of men fired their weaponry at Metallo, hoping to do some damage to the android to no avail.

Metallo had Clark pinned to the pavement, his fingers crushing down on Clark's throat as the man of steel struggled against the Kryptonite radiation emanating off of his foe.

" _Your reputation precedes you, Kryptonian._ " The android mocked him as he raised his fist, shooting out a razor edged metal appendage that hung dangerous over Clark's chest.

Then, the sound of a something moving at a rapid pace cracked through the air. The windows of nearby buildings and parked vehicles shattered to pieces as the speeding object shot towards Metallo and with spur motion, the android was knocked off of it's feet, sent flying sideways and crashing along the pavement and ended up in a hollow crater in the concrete. As Clark coughed and looked up at his savior, a stunned expression made it's way onto his face as he caught sight of a flash of dirty blonde hair.

"Need a hand?" Kara grinned as she helped him up.

"I—thought I told you to stay back." Clark panted.

"Yeah. You _really_ looked like you didn't need my help ." Kara scoffed sarcastically as she helped him up.

"Ngh—Kara…" Clark grunted as he clutched at his ribs , " You really shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous."

"Believe me. The tinfoil's reign just ran outta juice." Kara snorted as she cracked her knuckles, glaring at the crater as Metallo crawled out of it.

Once out, the android fixed it's gaze on Kara and grit his teeth as he rotated his shoulder, fixing his dislodged arm back into place. Then , Metallo charged towards them, morphing his fists into razor edged blades . Kara wasted no time in rocketing towards her opponent, not a trace of apprehension in her eyes.

When the two of them met, it became instantly clear to Metallo that whatever edge his Kryptonite radiation possessed over Kara, had somehow worn out. As he swung, she seemingly dodged out of the way before kneeing him in the rib area and then digging her fingers into his shoulder and hurling him skywards.

Unseen by them all, a dark silhouetted figure watched the brawl from one of the nearby Lex Corp towers, observing the Kryptonian quietly.

Kara caught android by his torso and flung him upwards, sending him crashing straight through and evacuated building.

"I'm liking this." Kara whispered to herself, cracking her knuckles as she took off after him.

When she got to the crater where Metallo had crashed , she found nothing but shattered concrete and a trail of greenish smoke that fizzed out of the ground.

"Playin hide and seek now , are we?" Kara called out as she squinted her eyes, trying to find any traces of the android in the dark.

Being the inexperienced Kryptonian she was, she did not stop to think that Metallo's heat signature would be concealed by the layers of metal around him. He was now more machine than man.

"Where the heck are you?" Kara mumbled .

Then, all of a sudden, she felt the android's metal hand enclose around her throat and crush inwards. As Kara struggled, Metallo seemingly began to crush the metal collar around Kara's neck, putting it out of commission.

" _Did you really think I wouldn't notice the new accessory around your pretty neck, Kryptonian?"_

Kara clawed at his arm to no avail and in a last ditch attempt, shot heat vision at the android's eyes, stinging them hard enough for her to be released. Kara dropped to the ground and clutched her chest, coughing as the Kryptonite radiation began to take effect.

Clawing herself back to her feet, she swung her fist around as Metallo dodged out of her range with ease. She swung again this time and he caught it . Then, without warning, Kara felt a sharp, intense pain surge through her body as Metallo twisted her arm, almost tearing it out of it's socket. She felt herself being lifted off the ground as Metallo chocked, her, dangling her feet above the ground.

She could feel her senses dulling out and all she could do was claw at the chunk of metal that was rapidly extinguishing the life force out of her.

Then, the pain was gone as fast as it had come. She felt the cold metal around her neck begin to loosen. The grip slackened and as she dropped to the ground, couching and gasping in lungfulls of air, she heard the resounding thud of chunky metal colliding with the concrete pavement.

"Need a hand?" she heard a familiar voice speak and she looked up, squinting her eyes to be greeted by the beaten up and weak looking, but still warm, smile of her cousin.

As Clark helped her up, she noticed the shriveled piece of dull green lying on the ground that used to be the kryptonite that powered Metallo, and next to it, lay the android, a gaping hole in the middle of it's chest, it's sunken eyes dim and the glow of green around his body extinguished.

"It's—over." Clark panted as he smiled at Kara .

In the end, it wasn't genius technology or protective shields that beat Metallo and his Kryptonite. It was more than that.

/

Above, on the rooftops, the dark figure retreated back into the shadows, having observed the entire fight.

/

"Besides the mass destruction wrought on my home and leaving half of Atlantis in ruins, I'm grateful for your help with safeguarding my kingdom, titans." Arthrur stated.

Kyle, Jaime and Garfield stood in front of the king of Atlantis in the throne room of the palace. Kyle had injured himself in dispatching the nuclear bomb and now stood with a sling construct encased around his left arm.

"I'll put in a good word with batman about your help here. " Arthur smiled at the three teenagers .

The king then turned to converse with his wife and a few other elderly looking Atlanteans, presumably his ministers. Kyle, Jaime and Garfield turned to leave the palace when they heard someone call out to them. They turned to see the now familiar face of Garth swimming towards them.

"You guys leaving ?" the Atlantean inquired and a hint of disappointment lingered in his voice.

"Yup. Mission over. Surface world calls. " Jaime remarked, giving the fellow a hand shake.

"More like—Batman and Nightwing calls." Kyle mumbled.

"Besides, I've already missed three webisodes of " Foster's amazing animal world" !" Garfield exclaimed .

The two of them swam away as Garth turned to Kyle.

"I—guess I had ya pegged wrong . You're not so bad, Atlantean." Kyle smiled at Garth who reflected the expression.

"Likewise. You're not the stuck up pompous Green Lantern I'd pictured yeh to be." Garth chuckled as the two of them shook hands.

"And hey—If you ever feel like visiting our world, You should know you've got a friend up there." Kyle stated. Garth smiled warmly at the green lantern.

* * *

 _HALL OF JUSTICE ,MARCH 14, 02:00 EDT_

"Cyborg has been able to hack into the system's main hard drive and recover footage before it was scrambled by the unknown source." Bruce stated.

Superman, Cyborg, Nightwing , Shazam and Colonel Steve Trevor stood in the conference hall with the dark knight as the latter stood in front of the giant computer holoscreen.

"I believe we've uncovered the identity of the person responsible for freeing Metallo from his containment unit." Bruce remarked and pressed the play button on the security footage .

As they watched, for a few seconds, nothing happened onscreen besides the sight of the containment unit being kept under security lockdown.

Then, a dark person entered the frame . They couldn't make out who the person was—he had his back turned to the camera. They watched as he proceeded towards Metallo's containment unit and typed in the high security codes into the data pad. As they watched, Metallo's unit slid open as the sub zero temperature that was keeping the android out of commission began to slow down. Then, as he exited, for a fraction of a second, the looked up and Bruce paused the playback. There was a collective intake of breaths as they all stared at the man in the security footage. They then turned to the one man in the room, who looked just as in disbelief as they were.

Steve Trevor couldn't believe what he was seeing.

* * *

 **That's all folks! I had a blast writing this chapter and I hope you have a blast reading it too!  
**

 **Please leave a review and fav/follow if you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Until next time!**


	18. Chapter 18 - Enemy

**Justice League, Teen titans and all other characters are owned by DC comics.**

 **Chapter Eighteen – Enemy  
**

* * *

 _TITAN'S TOWER, MARCH 16, 10:30 EDT_

A portal opened in the common room and Damian, Raven,Garfield, Kara and Jaime walked out, all of them with appalled expression and with clear frosts of ice layering the ends of their hair. Kara looked the worst, with her almost being frozen solid and taking a full on ice blast to the face from Killer frost. Upon seeing the plight of his their friends, Kyle and Bart, who were engaged in a video game, burst out laughing , to the annoyance of the new entrants.

"Snowday come early this year?" Kyle snickered as Garfield glared at him.

"They were probably trying to _break the ice_ with the bad guys." Bart jeered , high-fiving Kyle.

"Let's see you two goofballs take on a team of Mister Freeze, Icicle _and_ Killer frost at once. Then well see who's laughing, Hermano." Jaime chided as his armor retracted off his body.

"Mission report?" Dick remarked as he entered the common room, holding a holographic tablet in his hand that was displaying a series of numbers on it.

"There were a few hitches with the plan—Supergirl decided to break ranks and take on the three on her own, almost compromising our objective. But we managed to stop the team of ice-based villains." Damian answered, " Mister Freeze, Icicle and Killer frost are on their way to Belle Reve as we speak."

"Good work. Now all of you hit the shower and take a break. " Dick remarked , smiling at them.

"I'm going to the training room." Damian huffed and marched past Dick.

"Jack ass.." Dick heard Kara mumbles as she followed through, her hair standing upward on end with streaks of white in them.

/

The titans were engaged in the middle of a simulation training session, fighting computerized versions of the legion of doom when a boom tube opened up in the middle of the hall, disrupting the training frequency.

"Now what?" Kara huffed irritably . She'd just been about to deliver the final blow on Solomon Grundy .

As an answer, Batman and Cyborg stepped out of the boom tube glancing around the room.

" All of you are dismissed— except Nightwing. I need a word." Batman remarked. All the titans turned and began exiting the room, except for Dick, followed closely by Damian.

Batman seemed to have noticed Damian shadowing Dick , as he shifted his gaze to his son.

"I said— _only_ Nightwing, Robin."

For a few moments, the words hung in the air, unanswered and uncertain. Dick shifted his eyes between the Batman and his son as the two of them stared blankly at each other.

"Understood , Father." Damian replied curtly and without another word, the teenager exited the hall with Jaime, who was the last to leave.

"So the security footage was true ? Captain Trevor really was the perp who set Metallo loose?" Dick inquired, once the other titans were out of earshot.

"We analyzed the last security eye scanner to be entered into the security codings and it matched with Trevor's, besides that, we have no further progress in the case—but that's not why we're here." Batman remarked .

"We've got intel from a source that might help us find out the identity of our mystery enemy. " Victor stated, stepping up.

"Wait—can't the 'source' just tell us _who_ the enemy is themselves? Why send us on a road trip?" Dick questioned .

"They're not at liberty to disclose such information. They have a biological tracker implanted in them that will be set off if any such notice is given. We can't risk having our only lead getting killed off." Batman answered.

"Right. Makes sense…" Dick nodded, rubbing his jaw.

/

Damian sat at the dining table, his meal in front of him, still untouched.

The other titans were all busy engrossed in chatting and wolfing down the food that M'gann and Kori had made for them. But Damian's mind was elsewhere. It'd been over two hours and Dick still had not made an appearance .

' _He most probably must have left with Father and the Cyborg_ ' , Damian thought to himself.

"Only _Nightwing_ …." he muttered to himself, almost hissing as he did so.

' _What does Father see in Grayson anyway?_ '

Without another word, Damian stood up, without even bothering to finish the meal still steaming on his plate.

"Damian? You haven't even touched your food. Where are you going? " Kori called as she noticed the teenager moving towards the door.

"Out on patrol." He simply stated.

* * *

 _PACIFIC OCEAN, 17:20 EDT_

" All systems are go and en route to drop zone. ETA fourty-eight minutes tops. " Dick remarked as he gripped the steer pad tighter and shifted the flight gear forward, urging the batwing to fly faster .

The bat wing zipped across the vast expanse of the ocean. All that Dick could see around him was the horizon and the dark storm clouds that blanketed the skies, blocking the setting sun from view.

"Going somewhere, Grayson?" a familiar voice spoke up from behind Dick and he jerked so hard that he bumped his head hard on the roof of the cockpit.

"Goddamit!" Dick cursed, rubbing the crown of his head . Biting back tears that stung his eyes, he turned around in his seat to find Robin glaring back at him, seated in the passanger's seat with his hood drawn over his head.

"I don't seem to remember inviting you along.." Dick remarked as Damian drew back his hood.

"I don't need _your_ permission, Grayson ." Damian scowled.

"Damian, this isn't a game. I'm taking you back." Dick remarked.

"Why? Because Batman said so?"

"I—urgh." Dick let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine—you can come along." He muttered. "But you follow my lead. We can't afford any goofups. Understood?"

"If anyone is to watch out for mistakes, it's you Grayson. " Damian retorted smartly.

" _Understood!_?" Dick repeated , gripping the steering pad of the aerial vehicle, threatening to send him back.

"Of course…" Damian replied after a little hesitation.

* * *

 _HALL OF JUSTICE, 17:40 EDT_

"You don't seriously think Trevor did it , do you? " Barry inquired with a puzzled look on his face as the two of them stood behind a one-way- mirror, observing the scene as Diana spoke with Steve Trevor , who had been kept in a containment cell within the building ever since the league had seen the footage of him letting Metallo loose.

"I can't cancel out any of the possibilities until we know for sure . " Bruce simply stated as she stared through the glass as Trevor, who was evidently not pleased with the way the league was holding him prisoner.

"But there may be the chance that Captain Trevor could've been under some induced drug, forcing him to commit the incident. It won't be the first time that that's happened." Bruce stated.

They watched as Diana stood back up and exited the interrogation room. She had a clearly upset aura about her and she bit her lip reproachfully as she neared them.

"He still tells the same story he told you. He even used the lasso on himself and proved he was speaking the truth." The Amazon stated , eyeing Trevor sympathetically from behind the glass.

"Unless the lasso's started malfunctioning." Barry stated.

"Which is impossible , of course!" he added quickly as Diana raised an eyebrow at him.

"What do we do, Bruce. Surely it can't be Steve. " Dina remarked.

"We do nothing. Send Captain Trevor back to the cell until further notice." Bruce stated curtly before turning and walking away without another word, leaving Diana evidently irritated with how he was treating her friend.

/

Nightwing and Robin sat silently for a few hours, with Damian simply staring out of the glass opening , watching the waters zip by them as the skies began to darken.

"What does father see in you that I don't have?" Damian remarked all of a sudden, catching Dick off guard.

"Damian, I—what ?" he spluttered.

"He seems to favor _you_ more even though _I'm_ the blood son."

"Damian.." Dick sighed, realizing what the teenager was talking about, "It's _not_ like that."

"Bruce doesn't _favor_ me over you or anything." Dick continued. "He probably just thought I was more fit to carry out this mission. Plus, he probably doesn't want you getting in trouble."

"That's not what it feels like. He barely even spends time with me now. " Damian blurted out. "But he's got all the time in the world for Dick Grayson—the _first_ Robin."

For a few seconds, there was a heavy silence that hung in the air. Neither of them wanted to be the first to speak up. Dick could feel the tension oozing off of the younger titan . If he was being honest, he wasn't going to blame Damian for how he was acting. He _was_ just a teenaged boy.

"So where are we going?" Damian finally broke the silence , deciding to change the topic, though his tone still indicated otherwise.

"Malina Island." Dick answered, his eyes fixed on the holo-screen monitor of the aircraft.

"It's a deserted Island off the gulf of Isla Nubular . It's got an active volcano and one of the worlds deepest trenches—making the location perfect for someone running a mass scale op under the radar." Dick continued.

"Drop Zone approaching." Dick remarked and unclipped his seat belt, with Damian doing the same.

"This is a stealth op , so no unnecessary risks." Dick remarked as he switched the batwing to autopilot .

Damian simply nodded and punched the switch on the aircraft, opening the bay door. As he was about to leap out of the moving vehicle, Dick grabbed him by the arm, hauling him back inside.

"I thought I told you to follow my lead." The older titan remarked irritably .

"Leaders take initiative, Grayson. Not wait around for others to do it for them." The teenager remarked with a smirk, allowing Dick to move ahead.

Dick glanced at Damian scornfully before leaping out of the aerial vehicle and plunging into the icy depths of the water.

The moment he broke the water surface, the icy temperature chilled him to the bone and he could already feel his nose going numb . The waters were already pitch black due to the lack of natural sunlight for a few seconds, Dick was left to struggle to find a footing against the rough tides buffeting against his body.

Once stabilized, he heard the dull sound of Damian's body breaking the water surface and he pulled out the headlight, fixing it onto his face mask before clenching the oxygen valve in between his teeth, allowing him to breathe normally. Once he had gasped in a few lungfulls of air, he turned to Damian and signaled the younger titan to follow him through. Together, the two of them made their way towards the landmass, keeping close to the sea bed to avoid motion detection.

/

M'gann had just closed the lid on the oven and set the timer for the turkey to finish baking . Letting out an audible sigh, she pulled out her earphones . J'onn was right. Earth music did help calm her sense and had been helping her control her powers better—for the past few days at least.

"Watcha listening to, babe?" Bart remarked nonchalantly as he and Kara walked into the kitchen.

"My uncle suggested that I listen to music to help me calm my nerves. He suspects that that's what's been affecting my powers lately." The green martian stated as Bart began to gobble up some of the berries lying on an open plate placed on the slab.

"So what music you listening to?" Kara asked, sipping on her soda.

"I've tried most genres. But Korean Pop music seems to agree with me the most."M'gann beamed.

"You listen to Kpop?" Kara asked , cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" M'gann chirped, "I've observed it helps put me in a better mood. Some of their musical videos _are_ a bit weird to watch but their music is wonderful!"

"You guys wanna try it?" she proposed, handing the both an earphone.

"Can't , babe. Linda wanted tuh meet me today about something. So gotta run!" Bart remarked before wolfing down a few more berries and zipping out of the room.

"Sure. I'll give it a listen ." Kara remarked. She did dabble a little in music herself so it there was nothing to lose in trying out a new genre she'd never listened to before.

"Wonderful!" M'gann beamed and handed Kara one earphone while she inserted the other one into her own ear.

/

A shadow crept up from behind one of the rotating cylindrical stubs that suck out from the ashen ground. Damian placed a circular device onto the stub and watched as it latched itself onto it and gave off a discreet beeping noise.

"Robin to Nightwing." Damian remarked, tapping his earpiece , " Heat sensors are patched. Data is now on continuous loop."

" _Copy. Move in to the rendezvous point ASAP. Meet you there."_ Dick's voice crackled out from the comlink.

* * *

 _SAN FRANCISCO CITY MALL, 18:05 EDT_

The streets were bustling as the night approached. Men and women were returning from the day's work to be with their families, honking impatiently as the streets got clogged . The signal lit green and a wave of pedestrians crossed the main lane, making their way towards the city mall entrance, where a teenaged girl sat on one of the benches, waiting for her boyfriend to arrive.

Linda let out a sigh and looked down at her phone. It was already five minutes past the agreed time.

"Hey, beautiful." She heard a familiar voice call .

She looked up to find Bart walking towards her, holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"I stopped tuh get ya these." He grinned sheepishly, handing her the neatly wrapped Daisies.

"Thanks, Bart! I—they're wonderful!" Linda remarked, leaning towards him and kissing him on the cheek.

Just then, the sound of thunder crackled through the air and rain began to cascade down , bullets of water shooting at the pavement.

"Come on! Let's get inside!" Linda squealed, grasping Bart's hand and yanking him along as she bolted up the stairs, along with the few others rushing indoors to avoid the down pour.

Bart felt a freezing chill run down his spine as he entered the mall. Probably due to the sudden drop in temperature.

"So.." he began, as they made their way along the crowded hall, "What d'ya wanna do? Catch a movie? Hit the jitters?"

Linda bit her lip and tucked her hair behind her ear anxiously.

"I came here so that we could…. talk."

/

Dick sat crouched behind one of the nearby mounds of ash and hardened volcanic rock, observing the scene . The volcanic island was mostly desolate and uninhabited. But he couldn't take any risks and barge in without caution. He had been sitting in the same spot for over twenty minutes, his eyes fixed, hawklike, on the hollowed out cave entrance to the large volcanic mountain that was located at the center of the island. You could tell that molten lava still boiled under the rocks, since the temperature was hot but devoid of any current and there was a mingled aura of nausea in the air.

"Cold feet already, Grayson?" a voice whispered from behind him and a second later, Damian Wayne crept up from behind him and joined him at the spot, both of them crouched low.

"I scanned the entire island for possible leads and _that_ entrance seems to lead to some underground facility." Dick replied. Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed from within the cave entrance.

"Quiet." Dick hissed and the two of them bent lower as the newcomers exited the hollow opening.

A squad of armed men draped in long, crimson robes came marching out of the volcanic mound. They had their faces concealed and one of the men, presumably the commander of the battalion, turned to his men and yelled out orders in fluent Spanish.

"Holy crap… Those aren't just any armed bozos . They're part of the Kobra." Dick gasped, his eyes widening in shock.

"Kobra?" Damian repeated, clearly not on the same level of understanding as Dick was.

"They're a dangerous death cult that the original titans and I fought and we thought we'd stopped them. Batman can't have known that Kobra was involved in all this… But I can't radio him and wait around for him to get here. It'd be too damn late …' Dick mumbled.

"Okay. Robin , I'll take on the front head. You flank from the right. Got it?"

No answer came.

"Dam—" Dick remarked, turning towards Damian, only to find the teenager was nowhere to be seen.

Then, from up ahead, the sound of alarmed voices came and Dick turned to find Damian springing around, kicking the commander and a few of the men around him on the head before dropping a smoke pellet and disappearing from view.

As the smoke cleared, Robin stood in the midst of the unmoving bodies of the guards.

"I thought I told you to follow my lead?" Dick remarked , annoyed as he walked up to the younger titan.

"You were too slow. I saved us valuable mission time ." Damian answered as he sheathed his sword . Dick stared solemnly at Robin.

"What?" Damian shrugged .

"Urgh—Nothing. Just.. move in. And keep a low profile." Dick answered, shaking his head in dismay.

/

"Hmm… " Dick rubbed his chin thoughtfully as the two of them stood in the midst of what seemed to be a long, unguarded pathway. The torches placed in the brackets lit up the place and the mingled scent of moss and volcanic ash filled their nostrils.

"Seems a little too easy to penetrate for a top secret facility…." Dick mumbled to himself.

"Let's go." Damain remarked and moved on ahead .

He'd only taken a few steps before Dick grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him back.

"We made a deal. We act as a unit." Dick remarked as he handed the robin a pair of infrared scanners.

As Damian held it up to his eyes, he noticed the dozens of lazer motion sensors placed across the pathway. If even one of them detected movement, the entire place would be alerted to the presence of intruders and their mission would be over before it even began.

"Maybe you're not as clueless as I thought, Grayson." Damian snorted as he handed back the scanner.

"So now what?" the teenager remarked.

As an answer, Dick glanced around the pathway for a moment, squinting his eyes. He then walked up to a nearby ashen wall and began running his hand along the wall, as if trying to feel for something that clearly was not there. Then, a smirk crept onto Dick's face and he pressed down on a particular spot on the wall and as a result, the infrared lazer system switched off.

"Clueless , you say?" Dick smirked at Damian .

"Let's just focus on the mission." Damian answered and moved forward, drawing his hood over his head.

"Oh _now_ he wants to focus on the mission!" Dick chortled and followed the teenager.

/

"So…" Bart mumbled, stuffing his face with the burger on his plate. "What didja wanna talk abou' ?"

"Well.. Um…I—I've been thinking a lot lately…. And I-I care about you, Bart. A lot." Linda muttered quietly, her eyes fixed on a spot directly above Bart's head.

"Aww, I care about you too , beautiful." he replied, reaching out and taking a hold of her hand .

Linda bit her lip and shifted her gaze away from her boyfriend. To her dismay, the entire café was filled with couples kissing each other in almost every booth. It didn't make it any easier.

"Bart—the thing is… I—" Linda began before the two of them were interrupted by the owner lady of the café.

"Would you two love birds be needing anything else?" the woman croaked .

"ooh! Um. I'll have two tacos and one more smoothie please!" Bart chirped . Linda cocked any eyebrow at him. How could he have the appetite of a bear and still remain so lean?

"You want anything,babe?" Bart asked, turning to Linda.

"Um.. no thanks. I'm good" She shook her head . This was going to be a lot harder than she'd thought it would be.

"So… "Bart remarked, turning back to Linda, "What were you saying?"

/

Bruce stood in front of the giant holoscreen, his attention unwavering as he stared at the monitor as the security footage of Captain Trevor entering Metallo's containment unit played.

"You've been staring at the same video of almost two hours,Bruce." Barry remarked as he entered the hall.

"Hmmm." Bruce merely nodded.

"We know that Captain Trevor entered the containment unit, shot out two of the other security cameras and then unhatched Metallo." He stated monotonously.

"You've said that already to me…. Twice." Barry remarked as he slipped his mask off of his face.

"But the thing is—as far as we know—Trevor is right-handed. Correct?" Bruce continued as Barry nodded.

"But the person in the footage—" he stated , pausing the video feed as the man in the footage raised his blaster to shoot out the other cameras, "— is clearly left-handed."

"So…. Now we know for sure that that's not Trevor." Barry mumbled, staring at the holoscreen.

Bruce picked up his cowl and slid it over his head as he walked away from the computer system, towards the exit door.

"Where are you off to?" Barry called as he followed him through.

"First, to Metallo's containment unit for any clues the impostor may have left."

/

"Funny how the people you trust the most don't return the feeling, huh?" Steve Trevor remarked and the irritation was ripe in his tone.

"Steve…It's not like that. We're doing all we can and we _know_ it can't be you." Diana answered sympathetically as she walked up to the glass containment cell that her friend had been locked up in.

"We're just not sure if it was somebody else or if you were drugged into doing it yourself. Until we're sure, we can't take any risks."

"You mean until Batman is sure." Steve corrected her scornfully, sitting down on the cot in his cell and leaning back against the wall.

"Don't worry. We will prove your innocence . You just have to believe. " Diana stated firmly, smiling at him.

"Yeah? Well _belief_ isn't exactly what I'm getting right now, Diana."

/

Kara flicked through the channels for the tenth time and nothing interesting caught her eye. Throwing the remote across the room at the other couch, she let out a very audible groan of frustration and threw herself down onto the couch next to her.

M'gann, who had been at the kitchen making dinner seemed to have heard Kara's expression of disdain as she floated towards the couch, her earphones hanging out from her apron.

"Are…you okay?" the green skinned martian asked quietly.

"Urgh..Yeah—yeah . I'm fine. There's nothing else on TV except for food and soap-operas. Oh and two or more channels with that douchebag Godfrey whining about how meta-humans are a disease to humanity ." Kara sighed.

"Um…" M'gann scratched her head . Her eyes lit up as an idea came to her head.

"Maybe you can help me bake this ice cream I've been planning!" she beamed at Kara.

The girl of steel let out a defeated sigh and nodded . Excitedly, M'gann grabbed a hold of Kara by the arm and yanked her along, back to the kitchen. Kara watched as a cooking book floated over to M'gann as she opened up the fridge.

"Let's see… " M'gann mumbled , bent low and her head in the fridge.

"Condensed milk, Choco chips and four bananas…" she muttered and as she did so, the objects she'd just spoken the name of began to fly off from the shelves and towards Kara, who managed to catch them .

"M'gann, slow d—" Kara began but M'gann was too engrossed in the cooking book to hear her speak.

"Twelve eggs, vanilla essence, flour, chocolate cream and—" M'gann recited excitedly but stopped halfway when she heard the sound of eggs hitting a solid object and the distinct noise of someone falling to the floor.

She whipped around to find Kara lying on the floor, her hair covered in thick egg yolk and her face powdered white with the flour. The milk was spilt around and the chocolate chips littered the floor.

"Oh my gosh!" M'gann gasped in horror and flew towards her friend, helping her stand back up. But the floor was too slippery and Kara ended up on her back yet again.

"Ow…." Kara grunted as she tried getting back up to her feet again, this time hovering upwards to avoid slipping again.

"I am.. soo sorry! I didn't mean—" M'gann was busy apologizing nervously as someone entered the room. The two of them turned to find Raven at the doorway, wearing an incredulous expression on her face.

M'gann opened her mouth to explain what had happened but Raven held up her hand, silencing the martian.

"I … don't wanna know the half of it."

She then turned and exited the way she came in. M'gann turned to Kara who was giving her an unreadable expression.

"I think I'm gonna go hit the showers now…." She stated disdainfully and floated out of the room, egg yolk and milk dripping off of her.

M'gann felt the heat rush to her cheeks and she covered her face in embarrassment .

/

Two of the armed guards stood at the entrance of the hallway the connected to the main exit path out of the volcanic mound. Unseen by them, two shadows crept up behind them and before they knew what was happening, their cloaks were hauled up and over their heads, blocking their view and muffling any noises of struggle and seconds later, the two guards lay on the ground, unconscious

The main hall of the underground base was vast and a large cylindrical power unit stood rooted in the center of the hall, with squads of armed men patrolling around it. The thing was evidently of some value.

"Whoa… This base seems to be much larger than Batman thought."Dick whispered as he scanned the area.

"Here." he remarked, handing Damian his infrared scanner. "Keep a lookout and radio me if you spot anything. I'm gonna try and disarm the security droids . Stay hidden and out of trouble."

Damian nodded as Dick moved back along the path they came and entered one of the control units in the underground base.

/

"Hm…." Bruce remarked .

He was crouched low over the floor of Metallo's containment cell . He reached down and dragged his fingers across the floor surface and brought it up to his nose, taking in the distinct but relatively foreign scent .

"Somebody else was definitely in here. And it wasn't Trevor." Bruce stated .

He reached to his cowl and tapped the side just below where his ears were located. At once, the eyes of the cowl lit up bright red and he began scanning the floor . He bent down and pulled out petri dish and dragged his fingers across the floor and then repeated the action onto the petri dish.

He then turned to Barry.

"Flash. Have this sample analyzed. If we can extract the chemical component , I could enter the coding of the protein tissue into my scanner and we could probably track down the impostor ."

"On it." Barry nodded and took the petri dish from Bruce.

/

One of the commanders stood in the rickety steel elevators, on his way to the topmost floor of the volcanic mound. His long , crimson robe was draped over him, with his hood drawn over his head and a skull-like mask covering his face. He held a note pad in his hand and a radio receiver in the other.

As the elevator came to a slow halt, he yanked the doors open and proceeded to march down the long, wide hallway, his eyes fixed on the large, sandstone door at the end of it. Two guards stood on either side of the door , wearing cloaks similar to his, holding blasters in their hands.

As he drew nearer, they pointed their blasters at him , their expressions unreadable behind their skull masks.

"All is as the Kobra wills it." The commander stated calmly and upon speaking those words, the guards stood back and allowed him passage . He nodded to both of them and walked forward , drawing out a knife. Without hesitation, he slid the blade across his open palm, cutting it open for over the seventh time in two days and then slid his palm over the graveled sandstone rock.

Instantly, there was a low rumble and the rock slid open, allowing the commander passage into a large, hall.

The hall was mostly vacant, except for a large orfice in the middle from which red and blue flames danced. A lone figure stood in front of the flames, his back turned to the entrance of the hall. His cloak was long and much thinner than what his men wore and the top of his hood that was pulled over his head was shaped to look like the face of a cobra, reading in all it's glory.

"My Lord…. The shipment is ready." The commander remarked , his voice unchanging as he bowed curtly to his superior.

The man turned around to face his commander. His skin was pale, wax-like , stretched across his thin, lean body. He wore no clothing on his torso and a large , silver belt designed to look like the head of a cobra was wrapped around his waist. The man had not a single visible strand of hair on his body and he had slits for nostrils.

"Good…." A high, cold voice spoke, the man's haunting, yellow eyes fixed on his subordinate.

"Contact our buyers. And I want all communication radio waves jammed . I want no interference."

"Yes, my lord. Right away."

/

"You're moving to London!?" Bart yelled, aghast, throwing his arms around .

"Bart calm down! People are staring!" Linda pleaded, reaching across the table and squeezing his hand.

There was a creature that had awoken in his chest ever since Linda had walked into his life. It was a creature that instill him with a feeling he hadn't felt since he'd lost his way back to his parents. Now, just as that creature had begun to gallop, it had been slain on it's first step, shot down by the very light towards which the creature leaned towards.

"H-how …. When… why?!" Bart remarked, holding onto Linda's hand as if afraid she might vanish faster than even he could blink.

"I—well… I had applied for an undergrad programme there at the Trinity university in Leeds. And… my letter of acceptance just came in last week!" Linda remarked, unable to suppress the excitement in her voice .

A strange silence hung between the two of them for a while.

"Wow… London huh?" Bart chuckled in a hollow manner .

/

"Hmm… " Dick rubbed his chin as he ran a hacking code on the system. It took a few minutes but it worked. He'd successfully overwritten the security droid protocols and they were essentially useless now.

He was about to leave when something on the monitor of the computer caught his eye. It was a restricted access file of some sort and it's origin file seemed to be from some unknown access port. His curiosity perked, Dick pursed his lips and began typing several codes on the keyboard, trying to hack into the folder.

"Access denied huh? " he chortled, "Wanna bet?"

He typed in an all overwriting code he'd learned from Bruce and within half a minute, he had successfully breached all of the system's firewalls, allowing him free access to the restricted folder.

"Now lets see what makes _you_ so special, shall we?" he muttered and opened the file. To his surprise, as soon as he'd clicked on the icon, a completely new system theme took over the computer monitor. He squinted his eyes as he tried to read the inscription written on the monitor, at the top of the screen.

The inscription didn't seem to be written in English and he racked his brains to try and match the inscription with any language he knew. Unfortunately, he was at a loss. It certainly wasn't a language he could read and his cowl wasn't as powerful as Bruce's to be able to extrapolate such texts. Shifting his attention, he lowered his gaze along the monitor.

There were four folders displayed on the screen . Furrowing his brows, Dick moved the cursor and clicked on the first one, labeled ' _Prospectives'_ . As soon as he opened the file, a long list of names came up onto the screen. As he ran his eyes over the names displayed on screen, he noticed that most, if not all were people of power and people who possessed mass of wealth. On the list we names such as Bruce Wayne, Ray Palmer, Maxwell Lord, Oliver Queen and Simon Stagg among many others that included the names of some world leaders. But noticeably absent from the list was the name of 'Luthor'.

Dick also noted the names of certain world leaders on the list. Deciding to lookup some of the other files, he closed the list and opened up another file labeled ' _Armistice'_ and to his surprise, this time, a list of the names of each Justice leaguer popped up on screen, complete with a full profile. The only thing missing from their profiles were their secret identities.

Just then, the room lit up with orange and blue light and the sounds of sirens echoed throughout the mound. Dick almost jerked in shock at the sudden explosion of light and sound.

"What the heck?" Dick cursed, looking around the area. He had no time. H quickly copied what he could onto his hard drive and yanked it out of the system before rushing back out of the control unit.

"Robin? Do you read? **"** Dick called into the comlink. No reply. Damn. Comms had been jammed, by the look of it.

He bolted his way onto the vantage point where he'd left Damian and to his shock, the boy wonder was nowhere to be found.

"Goddammit ,Damian. I told you stay put…" Dick cursed as he crept towards the edge of the ledge.

Far down below, a horde of the Kobra followers were fathered in a circle , brandishing their blasters and in the center stood none other than Lord Kobra, his pale, wax-like skin gleaming in the fiery light of the area . His crimson cloak was draped round him and his hood was drawn . Next to him stood someone who looked like a second in command of sorts and in front of them was the spider assassin that Dick had the misfortune of meeting during his mission with the titans against Ivo and his android.

"Found this piece of trash lurking on one of the top levels. Would've fried him personally. But that's not my call." The spider assassin hissed and hurled a body at Lord Kobra's feet. The person grunted and struggled around in the thick crimson web-like adhesive wrapped around their body and with a pang of horror, Dick recognized the captive to be Damian.

"You're not getting away from me, freaks! I'm not some dead robin as you'd think!" Damian grunted before he was kicked on the ribs by the spider assassin, silencing him.

"It's the batman's boy, my lord. What shall we do with him?" the commander asked his superior .

Lord Kobra said nothing, simply staring fixedly, almost trance-like at the struggling Damain, who had his utility belt removed from his waist. His sword had been apprehended from him as well.

"If the child is here, then surely the dark knight cannot be far behind." A high, clear voice emanated from his thin lips. "Have the island searched top to bottom."

"And.. the boy, my lord?" the commander asked, as if he was eager to torture the teenager.

"Lock him up for now. If Batman is indeed with us, the welp is worth more alive than as a corpse. No harm is to come to him." Lord Kobra hissed before swishing his cloak and disappearing back down one of the passages that led out from the main hall.

Dick watched as Damian was hauled up by his feet and dragged out from view down one of the winding corridors. Great. What was supposed to be a simple recon mission now had just gotten a whole lot more difficult.

/

Kara sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the mirror in front of her as she wiped her hair with the towel. She'd tried her best but there was still a fairly evident stench of egg yolk coming from her hair. She then wrapped the towel over her head and was about to head to her closet to find something to wear when she heard the faint vibrations coming from her phone that lay on the bed.

Picking it up, she noticed that the call was coming from an unknown number and she accepted the call tentatively.

" _Good evening, Supergirl."_ , Ivo's voice crackled out from her phone.

" _You_!" Kara hissed, a yearning to tear apart the man at the other end of the line growing within her.

" What do you want? And how'd you find my number?" she growled, her anger oozing through her voice.

" _Temper, temper!"_ Ivo cackled, " _I did say I'm a man of my word. Meet me in Washington DC, East Batona park. Come alone. I promise. It will be worth the your bring any of the little friends, I'll know."_

Before Kara could answer, the phone line was cut without further notice. For a few silent seconds, Kara stared at her phone screen, her brows furrowed. She couldn't trust Ivo. But… there was a small voice inside her head, somewhere,that knew that he was the one link she had to knowing what happened to her mother, since she'd already checked the files on her mother back in the fortress of Solitude.

Making up her mind, she hurriedly pulled a pair of jeans over her legs, yanked the jacket closes to her reach, slipped on her trainers and proceeded out of her room.

/

"So….when are you headed?" Bart asked quietly as he walked with Linda, his hands dug deep into his jeans pockets.

"This week. Day after tomorrow , actually." She answered, looking at her feet as the two of them walked out of the mall.

The rain had stopped for now but the skies were still visibly cloudy, despite it being night. The wind was still rather strong and Linda had to hold tightly onto the bouquet of flowers to stop it from flying off in the winds.

"Wow…" Bart remarked, rubbing the back of his head, downtrodden. "It's… all happening so … fast."

"Yeah." She answered meekly. Then an idea struck him.

"What If I visited you?" he asked , and the creature within his chest raised it's head and began sniffing the air again.

"Bart.." Linda chuckled . " That's impractical. Air fare's too can't possibly keep visiting me."

If only she knew how easy it'd be for him.

It wasn't as if he couldn't just run to London and back in the blink of an eye. If could just tell Linda about the fact that he was one out of the three most fastest humans on the could tell her he was kid flash. It'd only be too easy to do so.

But if he did it—if he told her who he really was, there would be no turning back. She wouldn't be safe. Not that her knowing his identity would instantly put her in danger . But the titans faced dangerous threats and who knows when one of them would figure out that Linda had a connection with him and used her to get to him ?

No…

He couldn't let such a thing happen. He'd already lost his parents. He knew that much. He couldn't—wouldn't lose another person he cared about.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you.." she remarked quietly." In fact, If I was totally honest, I wasn't even sure I'd get in."

Linda glanced sideways when Bart did not reply.

"Are.. you okay?" she asked quietly, taking his hand in hers. She felt a little abashed when he quickly retracted his hand, running it through his hair, forcing a smile onto his face.

"S'all good. I mean… What're you sorry for? You got into a big league university! That is so crash !" Bart grinned.

"Thanks." Linda smiled softly.

/

Two of the guards were marching along one of the topmost floors of the volcanic mound , searching the place for any intruders when one of the men caught sight of a shadow at the end of the corridor slipping out of sight just as he blinked.

"[ _Did you see that!?_ ]" he whispered to his partner, who shrugged .

"[ _Probably just the light. Ignore it. Keep to schedule . We have orders._ ]" his partner waved him off and walked on ahead. But just as he was about to follow him through, the shadow reappeared and vanished yet again.

This time opting to investigate the shadow on his own, the guard proceeded to move quietly, following the shadow along the corridor, pointing his blaster out in front of him. As he followed the shadow, rounding a corner, all of a sudden, it was gone. The corridor was a dead end and there was nothing in sight besides the door to one of the control units.

The man relaxed his posture. Maybe his partner was right. Maybe it was just the light.

Unseen by him, a swift shadow crept up behind him and slipped it's arms around his neck and head, muffling any sound of struggle as the man was suffocated into submission.

After a few seconds of struggles, Dick Grayson felt the man's strength leave him and a second later, his hand dropped to the floor, unmoving. As quickly as he could , he stripped the man of his robes and mask and wrapped the clothing around himself. He then proceeded to drag the body and then moved the unconscious guard into the control unit, closing the door and then breaking the lock so as to ensure that the fellow wouldn't escape if he were to regain consciousness sooner than expected.

Dick slipped the skull mask onto his face and then headed back out of the corridor . He now had to track down where Damian was being held.

/

Linda let out a sigh.

"Last few days were fun , huh?"

"Yeah. We had a good run." Bart grimaced as he walked her back to her house. They'd only been dating seven months but she was the first girl he'd truly fallen for. She was his first girlfriend, if he was being open about it. Romancing wasn't really the first thing that would come to your mind if you were from the timeline he was from.

"Look. Bart.. You know I really like you… But—" Linda began but Bart cut across her, giving her a small smile.

" Babe, I'm not angry …or sad …or anything. Honestly.. I'm proud of you for following your dreams. " he stated earnestly.

"And I think you'll make a damn good reporter one day. " he added . She smiled at him.

The two of them were silent for the rest of the trip.

"We're here." She suddenly said . Bart looked up and the familiar sight of Linda's front door met his eyes. He pursed his lips and took in a deep breath. He knew this was the last time he'd be seeing her to her front door.

"So.." he mumbled, not meeting her eyes.

"So." She repeated.

There were unspoken words among them that hung in the air.

"I… guess this is it." Bart remarked. He finally looked at her and his eyes lingered on her face, taking the time to imprint it into his mind.

"Yeah… " she muttered. "If… you're ever in England. Visit me?"

"Nah. I think I'll visit the queen instead." Bart joked. The two of them chuckled for a few moments, delaying the eventual.

"Keep the flowers. There's gift for you inside the wrapper—something to remember me by." He added .

Linda pursed her lips and took his hand in hers, giving it a squeeze.

"Look, Bart. I'll always— mpf!" she had been cut off mid sentence by Bart who had closed the gap between them faster than she could blink and pressed his lips to hers. At first, she was surprised, almost shocked at how fast he moved. But then, she relaxed and wrapped her arms around his neck and the two of them swayed on the spot, conveying wordless goodbyes to each other.

* * *

 _WASHINGTON, D.C. , March 16 , 21:10 EDT_

Kara flew through the dark night sky, the rain pattering against her skin. She squinted her eyes as she neared the location mentioned to her by Ivo and upon catching sight of a lone vehicle parked underneath an overbridge that stretched out over the park, Kara began her descent.

As soon as her feet touched the mossy ground, the driver's door of the car opened and a man wearing a black suit paired with black sunglasses stepped out , not even acknowledging her presence as he proceeded towards the passenger door of the car and opened it up.

Kara felt a viscous creature awaken within her, yearning to tear Ivo limb from limb as the middle-aged man stepped out of the car, smirking at Kara . She had clench her fist to suppress the urge to smash her face in.

"Good to see you again, Supergirl." He stated , holding out a hand to her for her to shake, which she didn't take.

"As I said, I'm a man of my word." He continued as Kara glared at him.

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't just vaporize you right now." She hissed . As a response, the driver with Ivo pulled out a blaster from within the car and armed it with what looked like Kryptonite bullets.

"Ah-ah-ah! We don't want to do something we might regret now do we? " he cackled as he ordered the man to stand down.

Kara glared at him for a few strained seconds, her eyes lit up crimson. Then, she shut her eyes, forcing back her heat vision and then opened to reveal her normal blues.

"Talk." She hissed .

/

Damian felt his ribs hurt . His head was throbbing as well. Probably because of all the blood being forced into his head from being hung upside down for over half an hour. His arms and legs were bound together with the adhesive webbing and his sword and utility belt were kept under surveillance by the only guard standing in the room, by the sandstone door.

He'd been mostly unharmed but some of Kobra's men didn't exactly follow their leader's orders and had beaten up the restrained teenager considerably before tying him up and hanging him to his misery.

Just then, the door slid open and a second guard walked in.

"[ _I'll take over the shift. The commander requires all members to report to base immediately._ ] " the newcomer said to his comrade in fluent spanish, who didn't budge.

"[ _Negative.I didn't receive any such notification._ ] " he replied stubbornly.

Damian watched as the newcomer closed the gap between his comrade, evidently a display of aggressiveness.

"[ _Suit yourself. You can answer the commander yourself when questions as to why you were not accounted for._ ]" the newcomer hissed daringly, as if threatening his partner.

The two of them glared at each for a few moments. Then the man seemed to buckle as he nodded curtly at the newcomer and then promptly exited the containment room.

"You guys are like one of those cringy soap operas that Starfire watches." Damian snorted, spitting out blood as he did so.

As an answer, the new guard marched over towards Damian and to the teenager's horror , pointed the blaster straight at his face. Before Damian could react, the guard had pressed down on the catch and the blaster fired. Damian's eyes shut tight, waiting for the pain to come.

But nothing came. Well. He did feel pain but it was not the sort he had been expecting.

Instead of pain from having a blaster shot at his face, he instead felt a sharp, concentrated pain on the top of his spine, just below his neck and he opened his eyes to find himself lying on the stone floor in an awkward position.

Looking up, Damian caught sight of none other than Dick Grayson who unsheathed his sword and used it to saw through the thick webbing around the teenager.

"What the heck were you thinking, Damian?" Dick scolded as he helped the teenager get back to his feet.

"There was a battalion that was marching to check on your control unit. They must have realized it was not operational . I had to do something to buy you time to get what you needed. Plus, you were able to track me, weren't you?" Damian replied with a smirk as Dick handed him back his sword.

"Yeah. But next time, trying using some activation code that's not as ominous as ' _Dead Robin_ ' will ya?" Dick remarked.

"Now come on. We got what we need. Let's get outta here before—" Dick remarked but he was cut off by a new voice coming from somewhere in the room.

"Before what, Nightwing?"

The two of them turned to see the spider assassin standing at the doorway, along with seven other Kobra henchmen, all aiming their blasters at them.

"Got any other surprises?" Damian hissed as he held his sword out in front of him.

"Just a few." Dick smirked as he held out the detonator and clicked it.

At once, the ground on which the men and the spider assassin stood shattered and gave way, sending up dust and debris as the explosion vibrated through the ground.

"Not your worst Idea." Damian remarked and bolted forward .

"Just shut up and move." Dick followed him through.

/

"Is it done?" Bruce inquired as he walked into Barry's lab at the hall of Justice.

"Almost." Barry remarked as he zipped around the area. "The system just needs to bifurcate the input data and extrapolate the bio component. I could've done this a lot faster than the computer."

Just then, the computer monitor beeped and the results of Barry's query came up onto the monitor.

"Bingo." The speedster stated as Bruce walked upto the monitor.

"Hmm…" he rubbed his chin, furrowing his brows .

He then bent down and began tapping rapidly at the keyboard, his gaze fixed on the holo screen.

"I'm applying an algorithm to use the bio component to track down matching protein tissue to the sample." Bruce replied and as soon as he typed in the code, a singular red dot began blinking on the monitor and he froze, numb on the spot.

Barry's eyes widened in shock as he gazed up at the monitor.

"Isn't that—" he began before Bruce voiced out his thought for him.

"He's inside the building."

/

"Eighteen years ago, I was recruited as … part of a scientific think tank for a covert government organization codenamed A.R.G.U.S." Ivo began. "I was not the only one, of course. There were others, whose Identity I am not at liberty to disclose."

"You should count yourself lucky, Supergirl, for growing up in a time where Metahumans are more open public knowledge. Back then, your kind, extraterrestrials included, were kept secret and most metas were hunted to be used as biological weapons ."

Kara pursed her lips as Ivo recounted . It wasn't as if the public opinion on metahumans were that great today . And if it was worse back then, she couldn't imagine how bad it would've been.

"Argus acquired intel about two extraterrestrial beings that had blended in with the general populous, acting,living as one of our own." Ivo said before turning around to face Kara. "One—we know now but we didn't then—to be Superman. The other—your mother."

Kara could feel her heart rate quicken. Her sense began to highten as she felt herself getting jittery. She didn't need Ivo to tell her the rest. She already knew that this… A.R.G.U.S, whatever it was, must be the reason why she had no parents growing up.

"Subject Kr was—" Ivo began before Kara cut across him.

"She has a _name_ …" the teenager hissed .

" _Subject Kr_ was practically easy to track. We used her public identity of Linda Danvers to monitor her bank accounts, emails, social security and 'd be surprised what all information you have limitless access to if you are in the service of the nation's government! " Ivo cackled.

"Anyway… " Ivo muttered upon seeing Kara's stern expression. "While we could track the subject, keeping tab on her was another story. Argus launched a nation-wide hunt for the alien being , who proved adept at dodging the officials many a time."

Kara could only imagine what it would've been like. Nowhere to go; having to watch over your shoulder wherever you yearning to know her mother began to claw at her insides. She wanted to know more and she wanted it now.

"Argus was finally able to track her down outside of Smallville, Kansas. She'd been trying to escape the planet in her personal travel pod. But our agents managed to stop her leaving just in time and they managed to restrain the Kryptonian specimen ."

' _Smallville?'_ Kara thought as soon as her mind took in all what Ivo had just told her. But that's where—

With a sudden epiphany, the realization dawned upon her. Of course. Her mother hadn't been trying to flee the planet like Ivo and 'Argus' had thought. No. In fact, she had been making sure that they wouldn't find Clark. She'd posed as a distraction so that Argus wouldn't go knocking on the Kent house. Clack must've only been eleven or twelve at the time. He probably had no idea about all this.

"Is… she still alive?" Kara spoke, her voice almost cracking as she tried to mask her emotions from the man. There wasn't really a chance that she was, but even if there was a one percent chance, Kara would take it as an absolute certainty.

Unseen by her, Ivo smirked discreetly as he stood with his back to her.

"Unfortunately, dearie.. " Ivo began as he turned to face her, his mangled face stretched in a sneer. "That's all the time I have for you today."

"What the heck do you—" Kara began, clenching her fist but her attention was diverted by the sound of a gun being fired at her and she glanced at the driver behind Ivo but he still had his gun aimed. It hadn't been him who had fired.

She then turned to her left to catch sight of some metal object moving towards her and she managed to catch a hold of it seconds before it would have hit her in the face. She'd only managed to catch sight of the silhouette of a man standing a few feet away , with what looked like a medium sized blaster in his hand before the metal bullet (the size of one's fist) opened a hatch and shot out a jet of greenish gas that engulfed Kara in it.

Instantly, she realized that the bullet had been merely a canister that contained pressurized Kryptonite gas and it didn't take long for her to feel the effects. She dropped the canister and clutched her throat as she gasped violently for air. Her knees gave way and crumpled to the floor on all fours as she began to couch and rasp , clawing at the ground helplessly as Ivo turned his attention to the shadowy man who had begun to move towards them.

"That's a non lethal dosage of synthesized Kryptonite. Should keep the girl off her feet long enough for you to get what we need." The voice remarked .

The voice didn't sound natural. It had a thick flavor of disembodiment to it and it felt like it crackled out of a synthesized communication system of sorts. As the newcomer walked out of the shadows, his features became more clear to see.

His face was covered by a thick, black metallic mask with a white skull-like face plate on it. He wore mostly a standard militarian uniform, black , complete with armored shoulder pads, Kevlar fitting and everything else that came with it. The man had a blood red "X" mark in the middle of his chest which looked like it had been etched on there without much care . He bent down and locked an inhibitor collar around Kara's neck.

As Kara lay twitching on the ground, Ivo proceeded to head back to his car before returning with a silver briefcase at his side. He bent down and placed the briefcase next to him and pulled out a syringe that he flicked at before moving closer to Kara as the newcomer restrained her in place, stomping down on her wrists with his feet .

"We haven't got all day, professor." The man remarked in a collected tone .

"I'm terribly sorry dearie. We'd originally planned this for the man of steel himself. But seeing as he's much less _accessible_ than yourself, you were naturally the next logical option. No hard feelings?" Ivo sneered as he pressed the needle tip against her skin, puncturing her at her wrist as he pushed the foreign object deeper until it had entered her very vein. Kara screamed out in pain before Ivo's henchman placed a clamp around her lower jaw, muffling her screams.

Blinking back the water that stung her eyes, Kara watched in horror as a thick red liquid began to fill up the containment compartment of the syringe . It had taken almost half a minute for the entire compartment to be filled up and without much care, Ivo pulled the needle tip out of Kara's circulatory system .

"Why don't we just take her now itself. You'll have an endless supply of her DNA then." The masked man stated coarsely .

"That won't be advisable. The other titans and the Justice League will notice that she's missing and it'll be harder for us to operate. Besides—" Ivo sneered down at the teenager, " She isn't going to tell anyone about this little picnic now is she? They'll all know how she's been playing her own selfish little game from the start. Hah!"

"As you wish." The masked assailant replied. He then pulled out a remote from his utility belt and pointed it at Kara , clicking down on the button. Instantly, the collar around Kara' neck lit up as blue electricity crackled out of it, surging through her body.

Kara screamed out in pain as the blue crackled all over her body and she crashed back down to the cement, smoke trailing off of her body.

"She won't be unconscious for long." The newcomer stated as he stepped over her unmoving body. " She's capable of going toe to toe with a Kryptonite powered android. She could break you like a twig."

" Very well, best get a move on then." Ivo nodded as he headed back to his vehicle.

/

Kara felt her head throbbing and residual pain flowing through her body as her eyes drifted open. The first thing she noticed was she was lying on her back and she could feel the cold touch of the metal inhibitor collar still around her neck. It seemed to be offline as she was easily able to yank it off her and shattered it into pieces in her hand.

Ivo had played her. A fierce, fiery creature awoke within her and she wanted nothing more than to fry Ivo into ashes for what he'd done. He was simply distracting her so he could collecting her blood …. But for what?

She didn't even know if she could trust a single word the bastard had said . Maybe it was all just a ruse to keep her attention on him. And who the hell was that _other_ guy? She'd never seen him before.

If they were able to subdue her, one of the stronger teen titans without much effort, what else were they capable of?

She dug her hands into her jacket pockets and was about to walk out of the park when she felt the cold touch of some metal. Wrapping her fingers around the object, she pulled it out . It was a silver flash disk with a not stuck on it.

' _Keep it. You'll find it useful.I'll be in touch.'_

Kara clenched her teeth as she re-read the words scribbled onto the disk . She closed her fingers around the disk and was about to crush it .

But she hesitated. She just couldn't do it. She didn't know why but she couldn't go through with it.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Kara shoved it back into her pocket.

/

Damian summersaulted over the heads of three Kobra men before driving his sword through all three of them at once. He then bolted forward with Nightwing running on ahead of him, electrocuting men in their path with his batons as he did so.

"You really did not have an escape plan did you, Nightwing?" Damian chided as he kicked hard at the chest of an oncoming attacker.

"Really? You want to start ranting right now?" Dick chided as he grabbed the head of one of his attackers and forced it down into his knee, knocking him out. "Let's just focus on getting the hell outta here."

"Head for the elevators." He called and led the way with Damian following him through.

Once they'd made it inside the rickety elevator, Dick yanked the doors shut before leaning back against the wall, panting.

/

Diana had just been talking with Steve when the doors slid open and Batman walked in, a serious look on his face.

"Batman? What—" Diana began before Bruce cut across her.

"It was a shapeshifting metahuman impersonating Trevor, attempting to mislead us. We've just located it now. Head to sub-level four. Flash is there. He needs your help. "

Diana nodded and immediately flew out of the room as Bruce headed toward the control pad and pressed down on the palm scanner , letting Captain Trevor out of his containment cell.

"We should go help them. I _need_ to knock some sense into the bastard who framed me." Steve remarked as he stepped out of his cell.

"No. You're not going anywhere." Bruce stated and Steve turned around to find Batman pointing a pistol straight at his head.

/

Dick and Damian sprinted through the corridor from the elevator, heading straight towards the exit . But as they passed through the threshold , they found themselves back in the main hall of the volcanic dome and in front of them stood a horde of armed men, their crimson cloaks sweeping the floor.

"A good effort. I applaud you." A cold voice hissed from the middle of the crowd. At once, the men began to give way, stepping aside to allow their leader to pass.

"Take them." Lord Kobra ordered his men and at once, the men converged on Robin and Nightwing, but just then, there was a loud explosion that came from one of the top floors of the volcanic mound and seconds later, a flash of silver rocketed down towards them and crashed hard into the ground, blasting the attacking men off their feet and into nearby walls.

"Why do the bad guys always pick some underground creepy lookin place for a base?" Luke remarked as he stood back up.

"Glad you got the message, Batwing." Dick remarked with a smile.

"I thought they jammed the comlink?" Damian inquired, sounding a little curious.

"They did." Dick smirked. "But that doesn't mean I can't send a distress signal through the batwing."

"Not your worst Idea." Damian smirked.

"Attack!" Lord Kobra hissed and at once, his men, along with the spider assassin shot towards the group.

"Heads up!" Luke exclaimed and shot out a sonic blast from his arm that sent two thirds of the men tumbling backwards.

The spider assassin managed to break through Batwing's attack and launched himself at Dick .

"Ready for a rematch?" he sneered as he kicked at an unprepared Nightwing, sending him flying backwards off his feet. As an answer, Dick drew out his batons and charged at the assassin.

/

Without warning, Batman began firing bullets at Steve, who was forced to kick out a nearby metal table and use it as a shield. Steve couldn't make sense of anything that was happening except for the unquelling sound of the bullets striking against his metal shield.

"WHAT THA HELL IS WRONG WITH YAA!?" He yelled as he glanced around the area for something, anything that could be used as his defense against the batman.

Then, for a fraction of a second, the bullets stopped. The sound of metal moving against metal told Steve that the weapon was being reloaded and in a splurge of motion, he sprang out of his hiding place and lurched at Batman, who did not seem to have been expecting the attack .

Steve managed to knock the gun out from Batman's hands and within no time, the two of them were engaged in a gritty fist fight, both of them landing punches on each other. Steve managed to grab the upper hand as he began pressing Batman down against a table, both of them grunting as each tried to hold off against the other.

Then, Batman reached out for a taser that lay across the table and slammed it into Steve's neck, electrocuting him and rendering him off balance long enough for Batman to rain down punches on the captain before kicking him down onto the ground where he lay, huddle in pain.

Batman then reached out for a nearby chair , walked over to Steve and raised it above his head, ready to bring it down on the captain . Just then, the doors slid open and a blur of red shot into the room, knocking Batman back off his feet, sending him crashing into the computer system nearby.

As Steve got back upto his feet, clutching at his ribs in pain, Diana and another batman came bolting into the room, shutting the door behind them. Steve's eyes flitted between the Batman that had just entered the room and the one who had just been trying to assassinate him.

"Well that makes a lot more sense." The captain grunted as Diana helped him up.

Batman marched over to the impostor(who was still very much disoriented) and grabbed him by the cuff of his cape, yanking him back upto face level.

"Who are you? Who sent you?" Batman roared menacingly as the impostor as the latter began to sneer at the dark knight.

"I'll _never_ betray the cause." He hissed and before anyone realized what was happening, he brought forward a tablet from the back of his mouth to the front and clenched down on it with his teeth.

At once, he began to shake violently , his eyes began to roll up in their sockets and forth started foaming out of his mouth. Barry and Diana watched in horror as the fellow seemingly killed himself before their very eyes.

"Bruce! What's happening?" Diana called in horror as she watched.

"Cyanide." Captain Trevor answered .

As the body became unmoving, it morphed back into it's original appearance.

Batman was holding up a fourteen year old boy by the cuff of his jacket. Even the dark knight seemed evidently shaken.

"It's… just a kid." Barry muttered in disbelief.

/

Dick and the spider assassin were locked in combat, both of them flipping out of the way of each other's attacks.

"I suppose you're not gonna just let me finish my job here and go on my web slingin way?" the assassin quipped.

"What the heck do they call you anyway? Black spider?" Dick guessed as he lurched out at his opponent.

"Ooh. Bonus points for bagging the answer on the first go." Black spider sneered as he shot thick web fluid at Dick, who grabbed a nearby Kobra henchman and used him as a shield against the attack.

"Nice to formally meet ya, asshat." Dick smirked and charged .

Damian kicked out at two of the Kobra henchmen guarding their master.

"I am plagued by _children._ " Lord Kobra hissed .

"You should count yourself lucky, Kobra. At least you don't have to deal with the big man himself." Damian remarked as he lurched at the man, who merely sidestepped his attack, his snakelike features stretching into a sneer .

"You think yourself at my level, boy?" Kobra taunted.

"Why don't we have a go and _then_ we'll find out." Damian replied, holding his sword out in front of him.

For a few seconds, Lord Kobra did not respond. Then he stood back upright and slipped his robes off of his body, leaving his waxlike skin to gleam in the surrounding light.

"Very well. Let's see how you fare against the might of Lord Kobra."

Damian roared and charged at Kobra who merely began dodging the teenager's attacks with relative ease .

The black spider summersaulted over Dick and kicked him hard on the latter's back, sending him onto the floor. Wasting no time, the assassin leapt forward at Dick and pinned him down with his feet.

"Ya know,I normally don't say this but, it's real fun hanging with ya, chump." Black spider sneered (although Dick couldn't exactly see his face through his mask).

"Feeling's not mutual, _chump_." Dick smirked as he wrapped his legs around the man, locking him in his grip before he slammed he ends of his batons into his neck, sending a powerful electric pulse that electrocuted him on the spot.

"Black spider's down." Dick panted as he got back onto his feet.

"Somebody's gotta do somethin bout that huge ass metal football that seems to be powering up!" Luke yelled as he shot missiles at the men converging on him, forcing them to disperse.

"I've got an idea to stop that make sure you guys are ready to move out!" Dick replied as he bolted out of the main hall, pulling out his zipline and using it to propel himself towards the cylindrical power stabilizer of the volcanic base.

"Where do these bozos find an endless supply of mindless stooges?!" Luke remarked as he shot batarangs from his arm gauntlet.

/

Lord Kobra kicked Damian hard in the chest, sending him flying he got back to his feet, Damian could feel his chest throbbing due to the sheer force with which Kobra had attacked him. It was much harder to concentrate as well, due to the increasing temperature and the chaos around them.

"I expected more from the Dark knight's welp." Kobra hissed, his snakelike face leering .

Damian clenched his teeth and was about to charge Kobra again when he caught sight of the many detonator bombs Dick had planted onto the outer body of the cylindrical power source of the base.

He sheathed his sword and then retreated backwards towards where Batwing stood, waiting for him .

Kobra seemed to have noticed that something was wrong and he turned around, squinting his eyes and he cursed fluently as he caught sight of the bombs attached onto the power cell of his base.

"Is it always like this with you two?" Luke inquired as he held onto Damian by the arm and then shot upwards towards the opening at the top of the volcanic mound. Dick was running up the topmost floor , kicking down two men converging on him.

"Too much for you to handle, Fox?" Damian remarked cockily as Dick shot his zipline onto Luke's leg.

"Don't make me drop you back down there, kid." Luke hissed as the three of them rocketed out of the volcanic mound, towards the batwing which hovered a few feet above , waiting for them.

Once Damian and Dick had seated themselves in the aerial vehicle, the three of them cleared the vicinity of the volcanic mound just in time as the bombs went off and the mountain seemingly exploded, shooting burning hot lava up into the sky from the main vent . The very air rumbled as the molten magma was thrown around. If anything, the outer air got warmer.

The exploding volcano was a bright beacon against the dark night sky, fiery magma spewing out into the surrounding waters. There was no way anyone had survived such a tectonic blast.

"Please tell me you had a valid reason for going through all that shit." Luke remarked and as an answer, Dick pulled out the hard drive.

"Let's head home." Dick sighed and steered the batwing away.

/

"They destroyed Kobra's base . They have Kobra on the run and our partners grow impatient with the lack of results. How do you want to handle this?" Shiva remarked .

She was standing in a dank underground base . The smell of drying cement was in the air and it was rather humid due to the lack of air circulation in the hall. A fire crackled in the stone fireplace and her superior stood in front of it, staring at it through the slits on his pale white face mask.

"Their time will come. For now, did our new friend obtain what we requested of him?" the man asked in a drauling voice.

"Yes. "

"Kobra's demise is a disadvantage , yes….But.. everything falls into place in the greater plan ."

/

"Agh—easy on the needle, Al." Dick hissed as Alfred poked at the former's skin with a razor sharp needle, sewing his open wounds up.

Dick and Damian were now back in the Batcave, with Alfred stitching up their injuries. Bruce was glaring daggers at his son, who seemed to be reflecting his father's expression.

"I gave the mission to Nightwing because I didn't want any unnecessary casualties, Damian!" Bruce roared. "What you did tonight was borderline foolish and you could've gotten yourself and Dick killed!"

"But I—" Damian tried defending himself as Dick joined in, speaking for the younger titan.

"Bruce. He saved me from getting caught by an entire battalion of Kobra guards. If he hadn't been there, you wouldn't have gotten your information and I wouldn't be here right now."

"Be that as it may, he still disobeyed a direct order and you should've known better than to let him come along." Bruce hissed at Dick, making the latter to quiet down.

"I'm your son, not some solider!" Damian yelled and without listening to Bruce calling him back, the teenager stomped out of the batcave, headed towards the training facility.

Bruce stared after his son for a while before letting out an exasperated sigh and crashing down onto the chair next to Dick and Alfred. The two of them exchanged silent glances with each was not very often that they found the Dark knight at a loss.

"I don't know _what_ to do with him, Alfred."

Alfred let out a quiet sigh and wiped the dittany on Dick's wound.

"Perhaps you should try spending some _informal_ time with Master Damian—take him bowling or..whatever it is that fathers do these days." Alfred suggested as he got up to go and bring some bandages to wrap around Dick's arm.

" You can't treat him like he is Master Richard, Sir. He is not. And it's time you see it."

With those words, the old butler left Bruce with his own non-decodable thoughts.

"On…. A side note, the mission was a success. I managed to copy all the files I could find about who our enemy is." Dick remarked, trying to change the mood in the cave.

" Some of the data may be scrambled." He added as he handed Bruce the hard drive.

Bruce took the drive and plugged it into the access port on the computer . At once, the main interface screen that Dick had seen back on Malina Island popped up on the giant holo screen.

"I can't read it but from what I know, it's old Latin." Dick remarked, his eyes running along the inscription at the top of the page.

"I cross-referenced it on the batwing's computer on the way back here. Apparently the direct translation for the word stands for—" he was saying when Bruce voiced his thought for him.

"Cadmus."

* * *

 **That's all folks!**

 **Till next time!**


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